The Lost Sons (Old Version)
by OculiImperator
Summary: The Arc Family has always been known for its Heroes. Jaune Arc however isn't as strong or as skilled with a blade as the rest of his family but he still wants to be a Hero, however he will learn that Duty and Fear often follow the same path, a person must conquer one and follow the other. (Final Update Check Last Chapter)(Story Being Rewritten)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In the Outlands of Vale stood alone a Huntsman whose name is regaled as one of the best huntsman of the time despite barely being out of Beacon Academy for a few years.

Qrow Branwen stood on the edge of a cliff looking down at the site of what brought him to the inhospitable lands outside of Vale. There he could see a crater with the scorched of life suggesting the initial impact along with the size and depth of the crater itself, being an uncontrolled fiery descent.

His hand slipped behind him pulling out his ever constant flask of liquor, with a quick swig and the comforting burn, he jumped from the cliff.

Using ledges along the side of the cliff, he maneuvered down to the forest floor his shoes crunched down in the charred splintery remains of trees that were blasted from the impact. Qrow paid it no more heed then he needed too and proceeded to the crater itself.

As Qrow looked down in the blackened soil, he could smell a strange scent in the air both sickening and sweet, the hair on the back of his neck immediately standing up.

His hand unconsciously reaching on the handle of his sword, ready to strike anything or anyone that may come at him. He looked around him, not moving a single muscle, ear straining to pick up the barest of sound that would betray another's presence, there was nothing yet still the feeling of being watched couldn't be shaken.

"There are so many other things I could be doing right now, but noooooo Ozpin wanted me to check out some rumor about a stupid crater in the stupid Outlands." Qrow mumbled to himself as he takes another gulp from his flask, finally letting his instinct calm down. The strange smell from before no longer remaining in the air, with that Qrow stood at the lip of the crater.

"Shit I could have chatted up with that waitress at the Inn yesterday; she looked pretty good in that skirt." Qrow thought aloud as he slowly slid down the side of the crater.

His foot hit something, hard, flailing his arms a bit around to steady himself and at the same time keeping his flask from falling. Qrow finally looked down to see what looked to be a metal container of some sort.

Bending down he shifted earth to get a better look, after a few moments of tedious work, Qrow stood back to look at what he had uncovered. To him it looked to be a metal pod with a glass front, the size was big enough to fit Ruby, who had just turned one.

A small smile tugged at his mouth as he thought of his nieces and best friend, and how happy they were, though with that happiness, a spark of sadness came.

He still didn't know what his sister was thinking in leaving but she better well have a damn good reason.

Though Summer had thankfully stepped in to help Taiyang in his moment of need and now he had Ruby along with Yang.

He shook his head to dispel his current train of thoughts to take out his scroll to take a picture and send it to Ozpin. To him it looked to be incredibly old, rust covered almost all of it, whoever was in it must have left it a long time ago, the metal his foot had hit had practically crumbled at contact.

Though it wouldn't explain why the impact sight still looked fresh, taking in a deep breath he could still smell that faint charring of wood. There were too many inconsistencies in this and it was starting to annoy Qrow.

A response from Ozpin shakes his scroll, he had replied stating his thanks and letting Qrow know he could return home, Qrow snorted in response upon reading.

As he turned to walk away Qrow couldn't help but notice at the top of the container was what seemed to be a two headed bird.

Qrow shrugged as he turned away and left the crater, the shifting of soil upon his departure once again covering the empty pod obscuring it once more.

* * *

 **14 Years Later…**

In the small town of Avalon, not far from Vale stood the humble household of the Arc Family, there Alexander Arc and his wife Arabella, with their eight kids, seven girls and a lonesome boy lived out their lives.

The oldest daughters were Katherine and her twin Mina both twenty four years old, though Katherine was mostly absent from the home due to her now being a huntress.

Mina on the other hand had a small Bakery in Avalon but is also well known in town for having a hotheaded attitude to anyone that annoys her. More than a few were surprised that she didn't become a huntress as well.

There has been more than one occasion where she's been seen literally throwing people out of her bakery when they do something they shouldn't have in front of her.

The next girl, Sepherina who was twenty two, was a teacher at the local Elementary school; she tended to be the motherly figure of the home whenever her father and mother were out of town on missions.

The next are the triplets of the family, Helena, Claire, and Miriya who were all eighteen attended the local high-school as seniors and on the hunt for colleges.

Though they would rather spend their time partying and hanging out with their friends then school hunting, however the thought of bringing their mother down on them was enough to keep up the work to avoid proverbial death.

After them comes Nessa the youngest girl, at the age of twelve she's the one that everyone is keen to come protect at a moment's notice. For Nessa was in fact adopted at the young age of six by Alexander when he was returning from a mission in Vacuo, Alexander couldn't bring himself to leave the poor girl.

As a testament to Arabella's caring nature, the moment she had seen the young girl she had immediately wrapped her arms around the young orphan proclaiming that they'll be there for her.

The family immediately had taken the purgative in protecting the Faunus member of their family. Several instances of violence have occurred when they've have been on family outings and one of the more action orientated members of the family took issue to a not so subtle remark a stranger might say.

Alexander has gotten very acquainted with various members of the Vale Police Department when he was forced to pay for bail.

Lastly the second male of the family, Jaune, he's often teased for how he looked so much like a girl in his early childhood.

Often shown proof by the numerous photos of him dressed as a girl. Though he denies ever enjoyed it but he'd never truly fight back when forced to do things like that because no matter what he loves his family and would do anything for them.

Along with that he had learned numerous skills over his short lifespan so far that some men would ridiculed as being too feminine, such as cooking, sewing, hairstyling, dancing, and being adept at massaging. However there's one contention that's been surrounding the home of late, Jaune wants to become a Huntsman.

"I don't get what's wrong with me wanting to become a Huntsman." Jaune said as he pushed around his food at dinner.

The girls at the table remained silent mostly to avoid getting dragged into something that could turn into a fight. His father, who was calmly drinking a glass of water, set it down and looked at his son. Alexander Arc was a giant amongst men, standing at seven feet five inches, his physique in-between that of a bodybuilder and swimmer, close cropped blond hair, ocean blue eyes, and a scar that ran down from the corner of his right eye to chin.

"It's dangerous; you can get hurt, or worse killed, barring that you're not ready to go to Beacon or the likes."

"Yea but I've been training physically and if you or mom help then I could work on my swordsmanship" Jaune plead, his fork clattering onto his plate, and stood up looking into his father's eyes.

A feminine hand gripped his shoulder, Jaune turned to see his mother looking at him with her light blue eyes, and her face was slightly oval, her platinum blond hair going shoulder length, standing slightly smaller than at 6 foot 3 inches. She easily could have been mistaken for one of his sisters not the mother of eight and a huntress.

"Sweetie we know you want to become a hunter but it's just too late now, you're too old to attend a combat school like Signal, and if you applied to Beacon you'd never be able to hold yourself up in comparison to those kids who've trained for years to your year and a half." Jaune deflated with each word she said, turning away so she or his father could see the tears brimming his eyes, his hands clenched and he stepped away from her.

"Why won't you guys believe in me, I don't want to be a cook, or a farmer, or anything else. I just want to protect people and the people I love; I just want to be like you." With that he walked out of the dining room, ignoring his mother calling for him to come back.

The Arc household was a two story home, nothing fancy as some would have in Vale or Atlas but it was comfortable, or well comfortable as a ten person household could get.

As Jaune walked up the stairs he looked back to see Crocea Mors hanging on the wall. The sword had been in the Arc family for generations. The ancient blade that was forged centuries ago has seen action in every major conflict for the last three centuries.

He starred longingly at it wishing to continue the legacy of the Arc Family as many have done over the years. His parent's words echoed in his mind and he turned away before more tears threaten to spill over at their lack of support to his dream.

Jaune knew that no matter what he said that he would never convince his parents to support him like that. Instead Jaune had started planning out a while ago a plan to get into Beacon Academy, one of the most renowned schools in the world that trains Huntsmen and Huntresses. There he could live his dream and show his parents that they were wrong.

So Jaune had prepared by getting in contact with someone from the shady side of society to hook him up with fake documents to get him into the school. It had cost a lot of money; he had sold off the entirety of his beloved X-Ray and Vav collection and used almost all of his savings.

However he stilled had enough to get to Vale and by extension Beacon. The hardest part for the time being was escaping the house without getting caught, and to add onto that he need a weapon and probably some armor.

Jaune opened the door to his room, a simple room with the bed opposite of the room and a desk at the foot with a book and lamp sitting on it. Several shelves attached to the right of the door now sparse with his comic collection now gone. Jaune went to his closet and took out a duffel bag and stuffed two sets of spare clothes, undergarments, and other toiletries, last to go in was his baby blue bunny onesie.

With that he tucked the bag under his bed and lied down on his bed, taking out a pair of white headphones and set his play-list to random, waiting for the right time to move.

Jaune jolted up in his bed, music playing out of his headphones which had slipped off his head and now dangle off the side of his bed. He crawled to the bottom of his bed and hit on his lamp. There he could see a plate covered in foil and knew that his mom must have left it there while he was asleep.

Under it he could see something sticking out from the bottom of the plate and slipped it out from underneath. He opened the piece and paper and smiled sadly, his mother was asking for him to forgive and understand that they don't want to hamper his dreams.

With that being said, they don't want to see him get hurt at the same time, and in the morning they'll start talking about giving him a few lessons and train him a little.

However he knew that he would not meet his end of such a promise for when morning comes and his mother or one of his sisters come to get him, he would be long gone.

Jaune looked at the clock on his desk; it was half past one, time to move. Reaching down for his bag he slipped the straps over his shoulder and slipped out of his room. Turning the light off as he opened the door so that no light bled into the hallway.

As he stood in the darkness waiting for his eyes to adjust a bit, he saw that no light was on in the other rooms. With shoes in hand he slowly crept down the stairs, careful not to send any unnecessary creak of the stairs as he let his weight settle on them.

Soon he was in the living room and looked up at the wall, there sat Crocea Mors, Jaune tentatively reached out to lift it off the wall. He hooked it into his belt and made his way to the garage; there he could possibly find some spare armor that his father may have lying around to use. Jaune reached the door to the garage; before he could grasp it there was a creak above him.

He froze, was there someone getting up, did someone here him, was he going to be caught before he even left?

He wasn't sure but he held still, still in the motion of reaching out for the handle of the door, sweat beaded his forehead. His heart beating against his chest as if it was trying to break out of him and flee in terror of may come. He stood there for a minute, two, three, he wasn't sure but after an agonizing while he slowly released his breath.

He opened the door to the garage and stepped in, the cool air of the garage hitting him like an unwelcomed guest, as he slowly closed the door behind him, Jaune flicked on a set of lights to navigate.

Tracing his way across the wall he looked at the wall to see various sets of tools stacked neatly, whether it was on a hook, a bin, or drawer, he knew his father was a man who kept a tight shop. He always did tell Jaune that it's wise to respect the tools they use for they're always there when one needs them be it mundane or glorious but an ill-kempt tool will fail a man when he needs it most.

Jaune stopped when he saw his father forge locker, opening it softly once again to avoid any sound that may issue from the hinges. Jaune looked to see a large ornate scabbard, the width being nearly six inches and the length almost a meter and a half long. It was covered in a dark ebony leather stretched over a blacken wood piece, the only sign of decoration on it being a golden bird with two heads pointing left and right in the center.

However there was nothing in the scabbard, he remember vaguely of Katherine telling him that Alexander had broken down his sword and reformed it to a smaller version to give to their mother.

It was after their first mission together in the Outlands, mom had a brand new long sword, while dad had used the remains of his old sword to make a glaive. Stating he wanted to honor people from his past, though he never mentioned who they were and what they meant to him, to Jaune or his siblings.

Next to the glaive stood his father's incredibly large golden suit of armor, there stood a massive ornate chest piece with the same symbol from the scabbard, above it lining the neck was a gorget, below it was a smooth plackart.

Lining the shoulders were large pauldrons with neck guards forming over the inside. Going down was a rerebrace that connected to a couter and vambrace, a gauntlet was attached to the vambrace with metal stubs on the knuckles.

Connecting to the plackart was a segmented fauld that had a red cloth was placed between it with the placket that spilling over the armor. From the fauld a three layered tasset ran down. Underneath the tasset, there was a cuisses that covered the top of the thigh, connecting with it was poleyns. Below that was a greave that went down to connect with sabatons.

Jaune however saw in the corner of his eye, a set of white plates, nowhere near as ornate or protective as his fathers but enough to give rudimentary protection to his chest and arms.

Soon he had slipped the plates on, they felt slightly loose and heavy but he figured it was just because of being unaccustomed to it. Now armed and armored Jaune turned the lights off to the garage once more and slowly navigated his way to the door leading outside.

As he slipped outside the cool air embraced him once more as a long lost lover, Jaune took a deep breath and started down the path leading him to the front of the house. Looking up Jaune could see that no one was awake, with a silent goodbye he resolved to himself to return one day to make amends to leaving them like this.

* * *

 **Several Hours Later…**

If Jaune had to pick three things he hated most in his life, number one would be people who hurt those he loved.

The second would be flying due to the severe motion sickness he gets when he's on something that flies.

The third would be the classic bully, he hated people who picked on others who were too nice or weak to fight back. Though to be fair he normally was the one getting bullied so the third one is a bias pick. Alas Jaune now looked at his most second hated thing of his life.

"Fuck me…" he whispered, though apparently he wasn't as quiet as he thought he was when a young blond turned to him.

"Not even in your wildest dreams." Jaune blushed and looked away both out of embarrassment of getting caught and the fact that she was a really attractive, like a hundred out of ten kind of attractive.

He looked back at her only to see her giant mane of brilliant golden blond hair swaying away, only then did he notice the shorter girl in a dark red cloak standing practically conjoined to her hip.

Jaune shrugged and walked up the ramp into the airship as a man walking to his death. He stepped into the main section of the ship after following the signs posted on the interior walls; there he could see a bunch of people.

Some of them seemed to be color coded, again he saw the blond bombshell hugging the short girl in the red cloak, and she was saying something. Jaune couldn't tell what exactly she was saying from where he was standing. Whatever it was must been upsetting the smaller girl for she had a forlorn look on her face.

Jaune proceeded farther to the back in hopes of finding a corner where he may avoid the attention of anyone when he experiences his own personal hell.

As he walked by he could see another pair of teenagers, one a short but bubbly girl with orange hair chatting animatedly with a stone faced boy with a lock of pink hair.

Jaune did a slight double take at that, thinking what on earth he did he do to get something like that. As he looked at the boy he didn't realize where he was walking and the next thing he knew he bumped into something hard, the cold sensation of metal brushing his cheek quickly before falling onto his ass.

"Watch where you're going punk." A voice growled out, Jaune looked up to see the sneer of a tall teen with burnt orange hair starring down at him, the guy wore a dull gray armor, a bird with outstretched wings lay in the center.

For a moment Jaune saw a flash of his father's armor, guilt waved through him. Before he could croak out a reply the teen turned away muttering about be surround by freaks. Jaune got up brushing the back of his jeans off, only then did he notice a red hair girl looking at him slightly, the look in her vibrant green eyes was one of curiosity and pity.

"Great not even a day in and I've been teased by a cute girl, looked down on by another guy and garnered the pity of another girl." Jaune groaned softly to himself.

"Things could seriously not get any worse." At that point Jaune knew he fucked up, a ding could be heard and a voice came over the P.A. system.

"Welcome aboard ladies and gentleman we'll now be taking off to Beacon Academy." The sudden jolt of the ship leaving port sent his stomach into a panic dive; the only alteration was the dive was heading up. His hands slapped against his mouth, and he chanted in his head to not throw up on any of the people around him.

After a moment of avoiding complete and utter disaster, Jaune made his way to a small corner and sat down, groaning as he rested his head against the cool metal of the ship.

He sat there eyes heavy, and smiled despite the war going on in his stomach, he's one step closer to becoming a hero, but with that thought came a sense of guilt, he looked at Crocea Mors.

This blade of his ancestors and heroes was now in the hands of a liar and cheater who took the easy route into a school to fight monsters, save people, and in general be heroes for others to look up too.

He however could never really be a hero, a hero was someone like his mom or dad, both have a dream life with a loving spouse, a good house, a healthy family. Yet at the same time they can arm themselves and go out fighting and potentially dying to give others the chance to have a life much as their own, with hard work, determination, and a good heart.

Sure Jaune could argue that he's determined to go through the extra mile to get a place in Beacon, where he could fight and die to help people becoming the Hero that the Arc Family is known for.

However did he really do it to become a hero for others or did he just do it so that he specifically can be the hero?

Anymore of his thoughts were cut off when his stomach jumped up to his throat once again and only then did he notice that they were landing, he jumped up hands covering his mouth, his brain screaming to let his bile escape and end the torture.

The blond from before had also come up to him with the cloaked girl probably to chat with him or something but she withdrew immediately when she noticed his anguished face and hands covering his mouth.

"I swear if you get any vomit on me or even worse in my hair, I'm going to rip a hole in your stomach so the next time you vomit it has less distance to travel." She said a hard frown on her otherwise beautiful face; Jaune could have sworn her lilac eyes even had a tinge of red in them when she said that.

Jaune ignored her and ran as fast as he could when the doors open and found the nearest trashcan to release his contents into. He could hear people laughing behind him, probably at him, as he closed his eyes he added that onto the list of ever growing failures.

He then looked up at the bright blue sky behind the Academy, placing his hands on his hips; he could feel a smile bloom onto his face.

"Welcome to Beacon" He said, just before an explosion goes off in the courtyard in front of him.

Jaune may have screamed like a girl for the briefest of seconds before clearing his throat and looking to see if anyone saw him do that. Looking at the source of the explosion he could see a cloud of smoke with what appear to be lightning going off and the sound of ice breaking apart. Jaune once again knew he'd spoken far too soon and with a heavy sigh he let out the short summary of what may come.

"Fuck…"

* * *

 **Hi folks, hope you haven't gotten your pitchforks out and decided to come and castrate me. Let it be known that the story will in general follow canon events. This may not be to the liking of some who expect a completely different series of events. Which I understand but you'll have to forgive since this is my first published fanfic I'm sort of using it as rails.**

 **With that being said there will come a point when I'm confident enough to start venturing out on my own. So I won't say when it jumps off that track but once it does, you'll know it.**

 **(Spoiler you're gonna have to wait a few chapters.)**

 **Anyways feel free to leave a review or even PM me whether its criticism, a compliment or even just a random thought that you'd like to see added in at some time. Anyways I hope you enjoy the trip.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Welcome to Beacon" Ruby Rose said as she laid back onto the sunbaked concrete of Beacon's courtyard, first she gets pushed by two years after that incident with the flamboyant criminal Roman Torchwick, then she met the legendary Headmaster Ozpin who was a little weird when he talked about her eyes but she could look past that since she was allowed in Beacon so soon, plus cookies.

She closed her eyes thinking about how foolish she was to believe it is going to be amazing, she saw the looks a few people gave her, and she's two year younger then everyone how's anyone going to treat her normally when they realize that. She also doesn't know anyone here but her sister Yang, who ran off the first chance she could leaving Ruby to fend for herself and boy did that go well, explosively well. Her heart skipped a beat hoping she doesn't start turning to bad jokes like Yang. Her musing was interrupted when a shadow fell upon her.

"Need some help?" A masculine voice asked, a hint of amusement coloring it.

"Sure but the view is nice."

"What?"

"Nothing!" she squeaked as she realized what she said, cheeks heating up slightly, as she opened her eyes to see a tall blond boy with pale white skin and the incredibly blue eyes, an easy smile touching his features, a tanned gloved hand outstretched to help her up. As she took his hand, easily dwarfing her own, something about him seemed to be familiar and then it dawned on her.

"Aren't you the guy who threw up?"

* * *

 **Several Minutes Later…**

"Look all I'm saying is that motion sickness is really common!" He exclaimed, slightly flustered at already having a shitty nickname.

"I'm sorry but Vomit boy just popped out when I saw you." Ruby replied mirth touching her voice as she looked at her feet in attempt to look guilty about calling him that, but really she thought it was funny.

"Yea well the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it." He replied with a grin, Ruby raised an eyebrow and snorted softly.

"Do they?"

"No."

A silence descended upon them, Ruby felt slightly awkward, so she fell back to her number one conversation topic, weapons. Pulling Crescent Rose, and revealing her in all her glory, Ruby still smiles every time she sees her beloved weapon unfold. Jaune on the other hand had a completely different reaction.

"Holy sh- *Cough* I, uh, is that a scythe?" He asked, he hated how his voice seemed to wobble a little at asking.

"She's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle." Ruby beamed with pride, expecting nothing but praise for her baby.

"What?"

"It's a gun." She replied, ejecting a shell and catching it as it flew out and tucking it back into a pouch.

"Sooooo what do you have?" She asked, joy shining in her eyes at the prospect of seeing another students weapon.

"Uh, well I have this sword and this shield, the uh, shield, collapse so I don't have to carry it around and stuff." Jaune smiled sheepishly in response to seeing Ruby's highly advanced weapon.

"Doesn't it weight the same though?" She asked innocently.

"Yea, it does." Jaune said looking away, Ruby felt guilt grip her heart and tried to backpedal, "Ah well I guess I went over board when I was designing her."

"Whoa you built that?" Awe touched Jaune's voice as he looked back and forth between Ruby and her weapon, once again Ruby's face scrunched slightly in confusion.

"Yea, all students build their own weapon in combat school, didn't you?"

"Ah, well, I didn't really build Crocea Mors; it's a blade that's been passed down in my family for generations, so it's more of a hand down than anything else." Jaune felt his stomach drop at his own words knowing that he's lying to what he essentially believed to be his first friend. Ruby must have confused his distress for something else because she started to pat his arm in an attempt to comfort him.

"Well I like it! Not many people appreciate the classics these days I say!" Ruby laughs and starts to walk away but stops to look back at Jaune.

"So where are we going again?"

"I was following you…"

* * *

 **10 Minutes Later…**

"Oh! MysisteristhereIgottagobyetalktoyalater!" Ruby practically squealed next to Jaune and faster than he could coherently understand. Before he had a chance to reply though, there was suddenly a cloud of rose petals in front of him.

"Well that's just dandy, where am I gonna find a nice girl like her to talk too." Jaune sighed accepting once more another mark of defeat for his social life. Unbeknownst to him though however was a tall red hair girl that was watching and listening to him, though she dared not go up to converse with him, content to just be in the vicinity.

"Whoa" Jaune looked at that the room, all around him there were teenagers, many of whom just seemed to be so nondescript that they might as well be black silhouettes. However once again he was able to spot the luminous golden yellow hair of the girl from the airship, next to her was Ruby who seemed to be slightly annoyed by the way her arms were crossed and foot tapping incredibly rapidly on the marble floor.

Jaune made his way over to them, however he saw a girl with shockingly white hair and pale skin march right behind Ruby and start yelling at her. Jaune couldn't tell what she was saying from there, it sounded like something to do with the explosion earlier that led him to Ruby. As Jaune finally made his way to them he heard.

"Yea! We can paint our nails and talk about cute boys like, tall, blond, and scraggly." The white hair girl jerked her thumb back at Jaune, Jaune wasn't sure if he should be annoyed or flattered, she was really beautiful but her tone betrayed the inside which seemed to be a little too frosty for him. Jaune decided to play along however but just as he did the Headmaster came onto the stage where a microphone was located.

He was an average built man, though if Jaune had to guess he probably was a little bit taller than six and a half feet. His silver hair seemed to cover his eyes mostly, but Jaune couldn't get a clue about his age, the hair suggesting on the older side but his skin and voice looked more of that of a man in his mid to late twenties, yet the presence and sense of demand his voice commands had suggests far older then Jaune would have thought to be one of the best Huntsman of their time. Jaune far too focused on the man himself missed the speech when a blond woman stepped in his place as he left.

"All students are to gather in the ballroom for tonight, tomorrow is Initiation, be ready." With that the woman turned and left promptly, Jaune turned and leaned in-between Ruby and the white haired girl.

"I'm a natural blond you know." He placed his best smile and winked at the girl, she slapped her hand over her forehead and proceeded to walk away, Jaune could hear Ruby and the other girl next to her snicker in laughter. He sighed, the blond girl placing her hand on his shoulder still trying not to laugh so much.

"Better luck next time."

* * *

 **A few hours later…**

Jaune finally zipped up his baby blue onesie, the warmth and comfort of the fabric bringing a smile to his face. As he stepped out he immediately noticed more than a few eyes were turned his way. Jaune figured people must be envious of him wearing such a comforting pajama, sadly he was far off the mark, when he saw Yang Xiao Long or something like that, give a face of distaste mostly at what he was wearing but still it was not something he enjoyed seeing.

Now he was even more self-conscious, and hurried to his sleeping bag and immediately got in it. He laid there thinking about the events of the past day, meeting new people and seeing sights that he doubted he'd ever see if he had stayed at home. Though a small voice in his mind cackled in response telling him he could have seen these sights and more had he chosen any other career, but no he was more concerned about being like his family and ancestors.

He was selfish.

Jaune knew it; it was naïve to think that he could be here and stand the chance tomorrow in comparisons to the other people. Ruby who he found out after Ozpin's speech was actually a whole two years younger than him and she deserved to be here more than he ever would be, also she could probably kick his ass several hundred ways before he could defend himself against her monster of a weapon.

To top it off Jaune was afraid, he was afraid of getting hurt, or worse killed. He was even more afraid of not living up to the Arc name and being a hero like them, he was afraid of failure. As the lights dimmed he could hear the rest of the soon to be students slowly falling to sleep, the soft sound of breath and occasional snore emitting through the air. For Jaune Arc however the comfort of sleep would elude him for hours till he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and finally fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 **The Next Morning…**

Jaune wasn't sure if he should open his eyes or not because he just may snap at whoever was chanting loudly next to him. The steady thump of feet going in circles just nailing whatever sleep he could get into its coffin, with a yawn he sat up, and turn to the source of his disturbance, just in time to see a short orange hair girl with bluish green eyes starring intensely at him.

Jaune could practically see the boundless energy vibrating through her small frame. Before she could say anything, and probably burst his eardrums a hand snaked around her mouth, and almost in an instant she turned her attention back to the boy she was talking to earlier.

Jaune looked at the boy, he had slight oriental features indication that he was originally from someplace east and must have lived in one of the few smaller cities doting the land, Jaune nodded to him and the boy starred back barely nodding his own head. Jaune almost felt regret at leaving the boy with the girl, almost. Jaune looked at his X-ray and Vav watch noting that it was almost eight in the morning, and that he should get some food and arm himself before today's events.

Morning's suck, that's what Jaune has been able to learn so far, after getting woken by a hyperactive girl, he had immediately changed in his sleeping bag to avoid any laughter of him in his onesie. After getting his sleepwear sorted out Jaune made his way to the cafeteria, though at first he was incredibly lost but managed to get there by following Yang and her golden yellow hair once again, like seriously it practically glows.

When Jaune had his food tray he had slipped and bumped the girl behind him causing her to bump into the guy behind her and both fell in a tangled mess with oatmeal and eggs covering them. Jaune luckily enough had avoided both falling and spilling his food, however his self-preservation skills told him standing there may not be the best idea, so he had just left and the two teens never came for him. Now he was walking back and forth between the lockers trying to find his locker where he stashed his gear last night.

"Gah! This can't be right I would have remembered having to count that high, why does this have to happen now" Jaune lamented to himself as he rested his face against a wall, but in the corner of his eye almost shining from a light from above was his locker. Jaune staggered to it almost like he hadn't seen it in years, he entered his temporary combination that the school gave him and with a pop, the door unlocked.

"Next time I should just keep my stuff on me, probably would be easier, wait why am I talking to myself out loud?" Jaune asked as he starred at Crocea Mors, shaking his head he hooked the sword to his belt and slid the chest plate on, as he checked the leather straps to make sure they were tight enough Jaune looked around. Once again he saw Yang and Ruby chatting, though it looked like Ruby was upset with Yang again as she brushed her giant mane of hair. However what really caught Jaune's eye was the white hair girl from before, she seemed to be smiling and chatting animatedly to a tall girl with beautiful red hair. As Jaune got closer he could hear the white hair girl asking about teams, and this is where Jaune made his move.

"You know what's also great? Me, Jaune Arc at your service, milady" Jaune winked at the white hair girl before bowing slightly, just in time to miss the utter look of disgust from her and the smile of the red hair girl.

"Look Jaune…" She motioned with her hand in circle to get his last name again.

"Arc, what can I do for you Snow Angel, I hear there's teams being formed, and there isn't a lot of space on team Jaune but for you I can pull some strings." He replied with an easy smile, stepping in between the two girls. Weiss Schnee understood the concept of diplomacy and that even when you didn't like someone you couldn't be rude to them no matter what just for that reason, however there was something about the tall blond boy in front of her that irked her no matter what he said, and at the same time the name Arc seemed to ring a faded bell in her mind that she should know something of it. Weiss however didn't care; this boy was getting in her way of partnering up with the most powerful warrior of their year, Pyrrha Nikos.

"Look Jaune, do you know who you're talking too?"

"Nope."

"This is Pyrrha Nikos." Gesturing behind him, Jaune turned around to see the red hair girl, Pyrrha, looking at him with a polite smile. He extended his hand, Pyrrha looked a little surprised at this but recovering quickly she took his hand firmly shaking it.

"Hi."

"Hello." Weiss brought her palm to her forehead again; clearly Pyrrha was much too nice to turn away this fool.

"She also graduated top of her class her Sanctum Academy." Weiss stated a little more heatedly, Pyrrha on the other hand was staring intently at the blond boy in front of her, looking to see the same familiar look of those who treat her with much respect and nothing more as they kept their distance. However Jaune's face didn't show anything aside from confusion, this was not what she was expecting in the slightest and she liked it.

"Congratulations?" Jaune said slightly uncertain of what was the point of her mentioning this to him.

"She also won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, a new record!" Weiss said even louder, in the back this drew Ruby and Yang's attention as they came up from behind watching the exchange.

"Didn't you get bored of winning the first three times?" Jaune asked Pyrrha and she just smiled and shrugged, internally she was jumping for joy at his obliviousness to her reputation.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete Box!" Weiss yelled, face tinged red with fury, her arms flailing around out of frustration. Only then did it hit Jaune and immediately took out his scroll swiping through his gallery and found a picture of the most recent Pumpkin Pete Cereal box, holding the scroll up next to Pyrrha's face, matching with the picture of the breakfast food.

"Holy smoke, it is you!" Jaune exclaimed, his face alight with joy, Pyrrha laughed softly.

"It is, sadly the cereal isn't that good for you."

"Nonsense I started eating it every day after seeing your image on it and I'm fine." Jaune casually replied before his face heated up after his brain registered what he had just said, Pyrrha blushed slightly also, while Weiss just groaned in frustration.

"For what it's worth Jaune I think you will be a great team leader." Jaune's face lit up even more before turning around.

"So Snow Angel, spots are filling up, what say you join the winning team, eh?" He started to lean closer and closer, Weiss backed up out of disgust and looked at Pyrrha.

"A little help here Pyrrha?" Pyrrha could feel her eye twitch softly at how close he was getting to her, so just as Jaune turned to the side she threw Miló, the blade going right through his hood and sending him flying to the nearest wall, pinning him.

"Ow."

"I'm sorry!" She called out, a small part of her knew that it may have been a little too much, but she ignored that side, happy to see him away from Weiss. There was a ding and the voice of Glynda Goodwitch came over the speakers.

"Would all first year initiates come to the Beacon Cliffs, initiation is about to start." With that people started moving out of the room, Pyrrha stopped quickly to pull the javelin out of the wall that pinned Jaune, he nodded his thanks to her and she smiled back before leaving the room.

"Looks like you're having some tough luck there lady killer." A voice teased him from above; Jaune looked up to see the concerned face of Ruby with the smiling face of Yang behind her hands collapsed behind her head.

"Come on Jaune we don't want to be late." Ruby said pulling at his arm to help him up, leading him and her sister out to the cliffs.

As Jaune took his place he looked down the line to his left noting how many people there were, most he didn't recognize but a few he did such as Yang, Ruby, Pyrrha, and Weiss whose name he learned from Yang on his way over. He turned to the two adults standing in front of them all, Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch, who stepped out.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." She said bluntly, Jaune could hear Ruby yell in despair, he gulped himself, a bead of sweat slowly going down the back of his neck as the professor continued.

"Whoever you're partnered with shall be your partner for your entire time here, so make sure to find someone you can get along with, now we'll be sending you into the Emerald forest, after you find a partner, you must move north, there you will find a ruined temple and in that temple will be the key to passing the test." Jaune raised his hand as she finished, Ozpin taking notice turned his attention to him.

"Yes Mr. Arc?"

"What happens if we can't get a partner or a key?"

"Then you fail Mr. Arc and will be forced to send you home, and to add onto that you will also be find the creatures of Grimm in there, do not hesitate in there to destroy everything in your path or you will die."

"Another question Headmaster but how are we getting to the forest again? Are you dropping us off? Or do we climb down? Or was there some sort of parachute you handed out?" Jaune could feel more sweat start to bead on his forehead, his legs were shaking and hands felt really wet. Ozpin looked Jaune straight in the eye and smiled softly.

"No Mr. Arc you will be falling." With that Jaune noticed that several students were missing the ground they were standing on standing at strange angles, almost as if they launched them. Jaune could feel his heart drop as he realized Ozpins words. He could hear Yang whooping as she was flung into the air. Jaune turned to Ruby who was next to him and she just smiled sweetly as the platform sent her flying, he turned back to the Headmaster and Professor.

"Can I just climb doOOOOOOOOWWWWWnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" His words were lost as he was sent hurtling through the air, the speed and height that he was falling at sending pangs of fear through him, he couldn't think of a way to slow down or land safely. Jaune knew that he probably was about to die and if not get horrible crippled either way was not something he looked forward to. A gunshot in the distance drew his attention ever so slightly before he felt a hard pull on his hood once more. He was sent careening through the tree tops, branches poking and breaking against him as he was once more pinned, though this time to a tree roughly twenty feet up. Jaune could see the end of a bronze and gold javelin sticking over his shoulder, he smiled knowing who it was and yelled as hard as he could.

"Thank You!" A minute later he heard a slightly puzzling response.

"I'm Sorry!" Jaune shook his head slightly, thinking about why she would be sorry saving his life. Jaune waited there; in the distance he could hear the pop and crackle of small arms fire with the occasional muffled boom of some sort of explosions. As he closed his eyes he could hear rustling come from the bushes in front of him, at first he was gonna call out assuming it was Pyrrha but he kept quiet when he recalled where he was and the possibility it was Grimm. So he waited, and with a pleasant surprise Jaune saw the shocking snow white hair of Weiss, who stopped and look up at Jaune.

"Hi, still looking for a spot on team Jaune?" He asked grinning hoping that she'd say yes and help him get down. Instead she turned away and walked off, Jaune could hear the cries of joy that sounded like Ruby; at least someone was having a good time.

"Jaune?" Came the soft voice of Pyrrha, he looked once more down, he saw Pyrrha looking up at him with a grin, her green eyes focusing on his own.

"Have any room left on your team?" She asked Jaune felt a wave of relief when she asked.

"In thanks for saving my life Pyrrha, you can have the whole team." He said and within moments both teens were laughing, any attempt to hide it lost in a wave of tears.

"So, you think you can get me down from here? I can't get a good hold of it." Jaune said jerking a thumb towards Miló, before he knew it the javelin had slid right out of the tree falling towards her, Jaune with it. Jaune thought bitterly how much this was about to hurt and tensed up, however instead of a painful impact on the hard ground, he felt two strong arms underneath him, Pyrrha had caught him her weapon apparently already stowed on her back.

"Say Pyrrha I'm grateful that you caught me twice now but I can stand on my own." Jaune stated dryly, Pyrrha realized that she was still carrying Jaune in a bridal style and promptly let him down on his own feet. Jaune stretched his back and turned to Pyrrha holding his out once more, she looked at him slightly confused.

"So you ready to go partner?" He asked, Pyrrha smiled and gripped his hand.

"Let's go." She replied turning north in the forest and walking with Jaune close behind her. After what seemed to be an hour trek, the sound of small arms fire became less and less common.

"Hey Pyrrha, you hear that?" She shook her head.

"There aren't as many gunshots, you think people are finding the artifacts and getting out ahead of us?"

"Well it isn't a race so it doesn't matter who gets back first but as long as you can get back and meet the requirements, however if I had to speculate on why then the two main reasons are as you said people completing the objective and returning back to the Beacon cliffs, or there aren't as many targets."

"You mean the other initiates are killing that many Grimm?" Once again she shook her head.

"No, as in the opposite." Jaune stopped, eyes locked to ground that which he stood on. Pyrrha looked back and saw him standing. She at first started to reach out but pulled her hand back and elected to call out to him.

"Jaune I'm sure they're fine, but either way we should focus on our own objective, we've yet to come across the temple and I for one don't wish to be caught out by a Grimm pack or anything." She said as a means to encourage Jaune to get a move on and in a sense it did but not out of resolve but fear of getting into a fight. As Jaune followed Pyrrha through trees and bushes, Pyrrha pushed a branch aside and it swings back right into Jaune's face, hard. He was on the ground holding his face groaning softly in pain.

"Jaune!? I'm so sorry I should have told you." She said guilt clearly evident in her voice; Jaune tried laughing it off not wanting to make her feel bad.

"Its fine Pyrrha, it's just a scratch nothing to worry about." He said pointing to his cheek but instead of relief on Pyrrha's face he saw confusion which made him even more worried.

"Jaune, why didn't your aura protect you?"

"My what?"

"Aura Jaune, you do know what aura is, don't you?" With this she stepped closer to him, head tilted a little and eyes narrowed slightly in attempt to understand with what he's saying, how could he make it to Beacon and not know what aura is. Jaune himself was panicking on the inside, how could he forget something so important, his freaking aura wasn't unlocked, as he looked up he saw Pyrrha was standing incredible close waiting for an answer.

"Uh, yea I kind of don't have it unlock, but I do remember my mom telling me once that every human had a presence in the Immaterium and with that presence people are able to channel their aura into its physical form, but at the same time the Immaterium is dangerous in the fact that it's the collective metaphysical dimension created by the common thoughts present in each person which is bad due to both the chaotic nature of the Immaterium itself and how terrible people are on the whole and using the powers is both a boon and a curse for it can somehow lead to entities that are best left forgotten come and bring ruin to mankind and my dad said that Huntsmen and Huntresses should be better trained to avoid what he called another Prospero event and what to do if they do encounter those that dwell in the Immaterium." Jaune said as he looked up in the trees trying to remember what his parents told him years ago. Again he missed the complete confusion on Pyrrhas face.

"Well it seems like you got the root of it down but would it be okay if I unlocked it for you?" Jaune looked down at Pyrrha again, her face incredibly close to his own, he could feel his face heating from the close proximity, and he nodded.

"Okay, stand still please." With that Pyrrha placed one hand on his chest and another on his cheek and began.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." With those words uttered Pyrrha could feel a warm feeling passing through her arms and an energy that she's never know grow at her finger tips making her hands feel numb, a wave of exhaustion passing through her and she slumped down only to be caught by warm hands and looked up to the concerned eyes of Jaune.

"Pyrrha!? Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?" He asked concern clearly on his face, Pyrrha felt warmth blossom in her chest at that for some reason but shook her head.

"No I'm fine Jaune, I just used my aura to unlock yours, and judging by the cut that's now gone, and you have a lot of it." She said as she stepped back, Jaune's hands falling away from her leaving cold spots from where they held her.

"Well with that taken care I think we should go and find the temple now." Jaune as his hand rested on Crocea Mors handle, Pyrrha smiled and soon both teens continued their trek into the forest.

Unbeknownst to them a camera had witnessed their entire conversation, Headmaster Ozpin, regaled as one of the best Huntsman in the last century and a half but he's been around for much longer and has seen many things and met many people who fall into the realm of myth and nightmares. Listening to Jaune Arc explaining what Aura was and what he called the Immaterium, brought up memories of a man he once met long ago, a man that no one could match in a thousand lifetimes, the one that also started Arc lineage.

"I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat." The voice of Glynda Goodwitch came up from behind, Ozpin hummed.

"That's because they're fake."

"What?"

"They're fake Glynda, anyone could see that the writing and person do not match at all, and before you ask, no I'm not going to expel him." Glynda did a double take at Ozpin.

"But why if you do don't mind me asking, I can understand why you wouldn't do that for Ms. Rose but why not Mr. Arc?"

"Glynda you must have forgot what his last name is from, as the son of Alexander Arc or better known as Alexander the Great and Arabella Arc or Saint Arabella the Liberator, one is the scion of a great family that can trace its roots to antiquity where a man who was practically a god walked amongst men and she a fierce warrior from a place where blood and war hasn't ended for thousands of years, with parents like that I feel that anyone from that family can excel once they've set their mind to it." Ozpin replied calmly as he switched camera feeds to his other person of interest, the niece of a dusty old crow. Glynda could see that she would not be getting any answers from him about the topic today and just left to continue overseeing the initiation.

In a small town of Avalon, Arabella woke up in a cold sweat from her afternoon nap; she looked around the living room search for any signs of the kids, there was no one. She remembered that Sepherina had taken the young ones out and Mina was still at work.

"Is something a matter?" a deep but gentle voice came from next to her, she looked to see the loving blue eyes of her husband next to her, care and eternal devotion filling them.

"It's Jaune; I think someone unlocked his aura."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, we should go and find him; he shouldn't be left alone with such power, who knows what might take interest in him." Alexander placed his hands on his wife's shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

"Its fine, he'll be fine."

"How do you know?"

"If someone has taken the time to unlock it for him, they must be experienced themselves and not only that but cares for him as well, which means there is someone by his side already." Alexander explained as he sat against the side of the couch. He chuckled as he could feel Arabella tense up slightly, the thought of someone by her baby's side sending a pang of maternal protection through her.

"If it's a girl I'm going to kill you Alexander Arc" With that he laughed hard at the absurdity, however he could feel the cold glare on the back of his head that his wife was giving him and paused.

"Crap."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jaune and Pyrrha stood outside a dark cave, off to the side was a set of scribbles that resemble drawings of stick men that fought what looked to be a scorpion. Pyrrha stared intensely at the picture trying to figure out why it was there before Jaune interrupted her.

"Hey Pyrrha wanna go and check out this cave? Maybe the ruins are in there or maybe it leads to it, like a shortcut." In one hand was a stick with a piece of cloth wrapped around it, his other was a black lighter on it symbol of the Arc family shone brightly on the side.

"Jaune I doubt that this is or leads to the ruins, if anything there's probably a Grimm in there, and judging by the drawings on the wall it's probably a Deathstalker." Pyrrha said and as she turned around she noticed Jaune was already in the cave, the torch was alit with fire casting a soft glow around the walls.

"Hurry up before I find the ruins!" He called out, his voicing echoing in the cave; Pyrrha sprinted up to Jaune and just barely stopped herself from tackling Jaune to the ground.

"Jaune we should really not be here." She whispered, hoping he'd listen to reason and turn back.

"I already made the torch Pyrrha, so humor me for like another minute please." As Jaune said that he tripped on his own feet and stumbled forward, Pyrrha was able to catch his arm before he fell but the torch landed on the ground and into an incredibly timed puddle of water.

"Fuck my life." Jaune sighed loudly, Pyrrha was going to elbow him slightly to get him to be quiet, but she stopped when she could have sworn there was a warm gust of air.

"Do you feel that?" She asked

"You mean soul crushing regret?"

"No, something warm."

"I don't feel anything." As they stood there a soft glow appeared further in the cave, they slowly crept closer. Pyrrha had Miló and Akoúo̱ out in her hands as she saw Jaune get even closer, his sword and shield still put away.

"This must be the relic!" He cried out and reached for both hands for the glowing object, at the last second it moved, Pyrrha felt her heart stop in fear.

"Jaune I don't think you should mess with that." Jaune ignored her, far more focused on catching it, and as he did the heat from it could be felt through his gloves, however it started to raise him up and Jaune was soon face to face with glowing red eyes.

His scream could easily be heard for miles around.

"Some girl is in trouble!" Yang Xiao Long said turning around with her fists raised as she address her new silent partner, the girl racked the slide of her weapon and both ran forward to the sound of screaming.

As Pyrrha ran out of the cave, the sound of rock crumbling behind her, along with Jaune cursing both himself and the Deathstalker, she cleared the cave and ran back to the tree line. Turning Miló into its rifle form she turned around and kneeled and settled her sights on the cave entrance. Within moments the entrance exploded in a shower of rock, she flinched back as a chip of rock cut her cheek, within moments her aura worked to heal the cut. She looked at the Deathstalker easily the size of a Bullhead. On the glowing stinger curling several meters in the air was Jaune Arc, hanging on for dear life cursing the Deathstalker and his life in a string of words lost to Pyrrha's ears by the roar of the Deathstalker.

"Pyrrha! This is not the relic!" Jaune screamed down at Pyrrha, she looked back and forth between him and the Deathstalker.

"Jaune whatever you do, don't let go!" As soon as the words left her mouth, the stinger flung forward and Jaune was once more launched into the air. As Jaune flew through, he saw a black shape in the air above him. What Jaune saw was something that wasn't a sight that he thought he'd ever get used to. A couple of hundred feet in the air was Ruby and Weiss, both were hanging off the talons of a giant Nevermore. He saw Ruby let go, she looked like a red ball falling in the distance, however they started to get closer and closer. Jaune's eye opened wide in panic as he slammed into her midair and both slammed into another tree, pain blossomed through his head and darkness took him.

Pyrrha watched as Jaune sailed through the air, panic gripped her heart seeing the blond boy fly once more away. The sound of heavy movement behind her drew her back to reality, and she rolled to the right just as a stinger crashed into the ground where she stood. Squeezing the trigger, Pyrrha sent three rounds towards the Deathstalker face in hopes of blinding it; however it used one of its pincers to shield its face. She started to back track thinking of how to beat it, she couldn't focus though out of worry for her partner.

She finally had found someone who only saw a regular girl, not the top graduate of Sanctum Academy and winner of four Mistral Tournaments she didn't want to lose that so soon; she rolled once more to the left avoiding the stinger, and jumped up sending more rounds at the Deathstalker's face, once more she missed its eyes. However it smashed a pincer against a nearby tree, shattering the trunk in a shower of wood fragments and splinters, with that Pyrrha took that as the hint to get out of there, turning and running off in the direction that Jaune was sent flying.

Jaune woke with a splitting headache, the pressure seemingly intolerable; as Jaune opened his eyes he realized that he was upside down, thus all the blood had started to pool in his head. He reached up for a branch to grab hold of, pulling himself up, the pressure immediately lessened and Jaune looked around for Ruby who seemed to be mildly dazed on a branch below him, climbing down he kneeled in front of her.

"Ruby? Hey Ruby, you okay?" Ruby shook her head slightly and looked up confused at Jaune.

"Jaune, how did you get here and why were you in the air?" He snorted in amusement.

"I could ask you the same thing Ruby, but for a short answer a big ugly scorpion thing launched me in the air, and call it bad luck but I hit you while you were falling." Ruby just sat there wondering who was more crazy him or her, question for another time she filed away. In the distance she saw a red hair girl come sprinting out of the forest, a few moments later a massive Deathstalker crashed through the trees sending bits of wood everywhere.

"Whoa, I ain't missing out in that action." Ruby jumped off the branch leaving Jaune behind up there as he looked out to see Pyrrha. His eyes widened and he felt guilt in his inability to stick by his partner and help her, she could have gotten hurt or worse and now she was running by herself with the monster behind her. Yet at the same time a small voice in the back of his mind whispered how she would only have gotten hurt if he was there to hamper her progress.

Jaune's face twisted in anger at himself with how useless he was; even now it seemed that his legs wouldn't get up to go to his partner. His hands shook and his heart was beating like a drum, his hands felt cold and clammy, and the acrid taste of bile in the back of his throat tasted foul. He couldn't just sit there though, he needed to help them, he screamed inside of his head to stop being a little bitch and to get up. He looked down at the group of people forming up, he could see Yang and Ruby with a girl with black hair standing off to the side, and apparently the same orange hair hyperactive girl had shown up and was dancing around with what looked to be a white rook.

"Nora!" Jaune looked toward the sound of the voice and saw the same black hair oriental guy with a pink lock of hair from this morning, did this mean they were partners? That poor guy, however once again another voiced crashed over the clearing, he looked up to see Weiss falling. He smiled, now was his chance, not only would he stop being a coward but win the affection of Weiss, he pumped his fist and stood as far out as he could crouched slightly ready to jump at the best possible moment. As she got closer, he jumped and she practically floated into his arms, the look of surprise was amazing.

"Just dropping in?" He asked a smile wide on his face, however she once again looked down and so did he, and they were still a good distance from the ground. Weiss wrapped her arms around his shoulders and at first he thought that she finally was falling for him, however as they sped towards the ground he realized that she wasn't hugging him, she was trying to use him to land, and just as he landed face first the only thing he could think of was, that life was fucking bullshit.

"My hero." Weiss said the amount of sarcasm bleeding from her voice would have been enough to choke on, however Pyrrha came flying in, literally, and just so happened to land where they are. Weiss was smart enough to move out of the way but Jaune wasn't so lucky and Pyrrha landed on his back, and Jaune made a mental note that catching people with the back is something he should avoid from now on.

"My back…" Jaune weakly said one hand rose as if to grab onto salvation from his new nightmare.

"Great the gang is all here, now we can die together." He heard Yang say, and he felt inclined to agree.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said as she chambered a new round and took off towards the Deathstalker, Jaune looked up and saw the panic in Yang's face and knew that Ruby was in trouble. Sadly he wasn't wrong and before he could even get up both the Deathstalker closed in on Ruby who was trapped by a feather from the Nevermore after her failed attack on the scorpion. He saw Yang sprint out to try and save her but the feathers got in her way, the Deathstalker came up behind Ruby as she desperately tried to escape, and time seemed to slow down as the stinger came down on Ruby.

Was Jaune about to see his friend die in front of him, and to top it off, he didn't do a damn thing, he was laying on the ground unable to get up and even try and protect his friend, he closed his eyes expecting the worst possible outcome. However that wasn't the case, instead Jaune opened his eyes to see that apparently Weiss had come and saved Ruby by trapping the Deathstalker's stinger in a wall of ice and seemed to be both lecturing her about how dumb she was and apologizing. Jaune was just confused at that point; thought relief was flooded into his body at the aversion to Ruby getting hurt. A slender hand came in front of his vision and she saw Pyrrha smiling down at him, he took hold of her hand and she pulled him up with easy, Jaune could feel how strong Pyrrha was, the thought of her winning a fighting tournament four times in row didn't see that far off now.

"I'm glad you're okay Jaune, gave me a bit of a scare there." She said a soft smile touching her lips, but Jaune could see that there was still a feeling of worry clouding her eyes, and when he saw her eyes quickly scan his body for injuries he could only feel more guilt at not being useful.

"Let's just get the pieces now." He said softly, his eyes looking away from Pyrrha, her smiled dropped at that and she was going to ask what was on his mind when Ruby came between them.

"Jaune! Did you get a piece yet?"

"Haha, no Ruby, I'mma assume you didn't either?"

"Yup let's go get ours." She said as she grabbed at his arm pulling him along, Jaune called out that she didn't need to pull him so hard. As they did that Yang watched from afar with a critical eye as Ruby had approached him, her big sister senses had been going off when she had saw Ruby's face, she wasn't happy for a second, and Yang could only guess at the cause that being how close Pyrrha was getting to Jaune. Was Ruby jealous of Pyrrha, or was she being overly protective of him, either thought could lead to Ruby liking Jaune in more than a "just friends" way, this was something that she needed to keep an eye on in the future. Soon Jaune and Ruby stood before two chess pieces, a rook and a knight, Jaune picked up the white rook while Ruby took the white knight.

The screech of the Nevermore snapped everyone to reality, the gathered teens stood around. Ruby had surprisingly took charge of things saying how staying there and fighting was a waste of time, they had their pieces now they could leave, the group had agreed wholeheartedly at this and took off towards a set of ruins near the Beacon cliffs. For Jaune the rest of that time seemed to blur together, he remember giving out orders for Pyrrha and Ren, whose name along with his partner Nora he learned during their run to the ruins, to cut the stinger off the Deathstalker which had come back to get them.

Than have Nora slam her hammer down on the stinger piercing the bone plating of the Grimm. After that they watched as Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake kill the Nevermore by having Ruby run of the side of the Cliff dragging the creature by the neck with Crescent Rose leading to the head being cut off. Jaune was in awe at how amazing she was, and now he knew why she was attending Beacon at such a young age.

Before he knew it they were all once again back in the Beacon auditorium, a group of four guys were standing on stage apparently they're collected the same pieces, Glynda Goodwitch beckoned them to the stage as the four guys left.

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren, you have collected the white rook pieces, from this day forward, you shall be known as team Juniper," Jaune saw on the screen above them, one letter from each of their names gave form to what he assumed was the acronym of Juniper, neat.

"Led by… Jaune Arc."

"What?"

"Congratulations young man." A small smile appeared on Ozpins face, Jaune immediately felt that the Headmaster must be a troll on his spare time, because the smile he had was one that expected hilarious things to occur. He almost didn't notice Pyrrha punch him in the shoulder, but he did noticed falling to the floor and people laughing, as he stood up and left he saw Ruby's group standing behind him, Ruby looked strange as if she didn't know what to do, Yang on the other hand was trying not to laugh either. She was failing, hard, next to her Weiss just looked like she wanted to kill the tall blond next to her, and lastly the newest edition to the group, and Jaune wasn't sure what her name was just stood there.

"Ready to be a team leader vomit boy?" Yang quipped as they walked by, Jaune shot a blazing glare at Ruby who whistled a little as she looked away.

"You're not going to call me that from now on?"

"Yup!" Yang replied, as she gave a dazzling smile like what she was saying was a cute nickname or something.

"Don't worry about it Jaune, I have a whole _bile_ to choose from." Jaune raised an eyebrow as Yang started to laugh at her own joke. Ruby slapped her face and seemed to be talking to herself as if to calm down, Weiss scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Don't you have anything else better to do than say lame jokes?"

"Aww now my baby sisters partner is being _Weiss_ cold with me too, Blaaake she's picking on meee!" Yang turned to the fourth member, but before the black hair girl could reply the Headmaster called them up, and Jaune thought he'd never see Weiss as mad as she was when Ruby was announced as the leader of team RWBY.

"With the final team formed, I would like to welcome all of you officially to Beacon, details of your class schedules and dorm assignments will be sent to your scrolls later, classes start tomorrow, I suggest you all get some rest." Professor Goodwitch said aloud as she strolled to the center of the stage, her green eyes holding a restrained promise of cold fury, most of the new students immediately looked away when her gaze passed over them.

"Ah, well you heard her team let's get out of here." Jaune said as he turned away, his scroll vibrated and he looked at it, there were two new messages. The first message was the details of his team dorm room and their collective class schedule, and the other one however was from Ozpin himself. Opening the message, it was a standard welcome to Beacon sort of thing however at the end he told Jaune to say hi to his parents for him. Jaune was puzzled at first but he chalked it up to probably his parents having graduated from Beacon and Ozpin must have been Headmaster back then also.

"Jaune ? Jaune, where are we going?"

"Huh?"

"Jaune you have the message for our dorm right?" He stared blankly at Pyrrha for a second before realizing that all of them were looking at him.

"Oh! Yea I've got it right here, follow me." It took a while because Jaune somehow managed to lead them back to the main courtyards but after consulting a local directory at the idea of Ren they were finally able to get to their dorm. As they opened the room they looked in to find a 30 by 30 foot room, in it was four beds lining the wall with a giant window above the two center beds, while the other two beds line the walls to their left and right, in-between each was a two drawer night stand.

Opposite of the beds to the left and right of the door way as they entered were four desks with a shelf above, most likely to hold textbooks and other materials they may need. There were also two wardrobes off to his right, probably where they could place their stuff in. Jaune walked up to another door in the room was saw inside a rather spacious bathroom with a walk in shower and white porcelain bathtub next to it, there was dual sinks, and the mirror opened up to reveal three empty shelves in it.

"This is rather nice don't you think so Lie?" Jaune asked as he turned to his fellow male who had followed him, figuring he could start getting to know his teammate as soon as possible would be nice. The teen looked back at Jaune with no overt emotion showing on his face as far as Jaune could tell, Jaune thought that he probably wasn't comfortable talking to him yet.

"It's nice and if you don't mind you can call me Ren." The shorter teen replied Jaune nodded and smiled a little thankful for the small victory of talking with the guy.

"I think we should start getting ready for bed soon, today has been a long day." Pyrrhas voice came from behind them as she entered the bathroom with them.

"I figured we'd pick our beds, get cleaned up, and grab something to eat then go to sleep."

"Food?!" Nora gasped from behind Jaune and before he knew it there was a weight thrown onto his back for the third time today.

"Fearless Leader is right Pyrrha we should eat, mainly pancakes made by Ren though and with lots of syrup." She called out a fist raised in front of her as she stared at the ceiling like what she said was a to be a righteous declaration.

"Fearless leader?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha who just shrugged, Ren tapped Nora on the back and she jumped off of Jaune and landed on the nearest bed, Ren set his stuff down against the far wall his spot forever by Nora's side it seemed. Jaune turned to Pyrrha and gestured to the bed on either side of him, she set her bags down in the other central bed next to Nora and Jaune placed his on the other bed against the wall. With that they decided to take turns getting cleaned up, Jaune elected to go last out of all of them despite Pyrrhas insistence that he goes first as leader.

Jaune stepped into the bathroom locking the door behind him; he could feel the tension in his body give out. The fact that he had a beautiful partner for the rest of his time here but one that he also shared a room with, it was like a dream come true. He shook his head as he started to daydream, no time to fantasize, as he removed his favorite sweater he could feel the dirt with his hands and with a click of his tongue he folded and set it on the counter-top, next came his black shirt and when it was gone he noticed something different.

His body looked, well he was quite sure how to put this, but better, he always was a fairly fit despite his clumsy nature but the way he looked now was more similar to that of a well-toned professional athlete. He shrugged figuring it probably was just a side effect of him unlocking his aura, as he stepped into the shower the warm water seemed to wipe away all the lingering tension of the day, muscles and parts of his body that he never thought existed seemed to relax leaving him both tired but relieved at the release of hidden exertion.

After a few minutes he gave into the task of setting about to scrub his body clean, apparently he was carrying more dirt than he originally thought because the soapy water ran brown for more than a few seconds. After satisfied at cleaning himself, he stepped out and proceeded to use the towel he had brought from home to dry off, as he looked at his extra pair of clothes that he brought he realized that he forgot to bring in a shirt, all he had on hand was underwear and a pair of loose shorts.

Shrugging he put them on, taking his dirty clothes in hand. As he stepped out he was unfortunately welcomed with the sight of Pyrrha and team RWBY who apparently were their neighbors across the hall. All of them had various reactions, Pyrrha and Ruby both went incredible red faced, and Yang smiled with a flash of hunger going through her eyes, Blake starred both pleased with the show from both Jaune and her teammates. Weiss also had a tinge of red coloring her cheeks before throwing a complementary dictionary from a nearby desk right at Jaune's face.

"Don't walk around practically naked you barbarian!"

There was a loud thud as Jaune fell to the floor, and just laid there, apparently he was out like a light from that hit.

"Weiss, why would you do that?" Ruby stated with a low whine like a sad puppy.

"The brute was walking around practically naked, he deserved it." She crossed her arms in defiance, though she looked at Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry that you're trapped with that buffoon, you can come to me if you ever want an intelligent conversation." Pyrrha just stared at her, one eyebrow raised, annoyance flashed through her eyes at that, at that moment Yang chipped in to lighten up the room a little.

"I don't know about that _Weiss_ cream, I think Cereal girl is gonna be more interested in her eye candy here." She said a Cheshire smile spreading across her face at new teasing material, Pyrrha's cheeks started to go red at what she send and glanced at her half naked partner who was on the floor out cold.

"Whoa! Ren look we have neighbors over, quick give them some of that nasty tea you drink!" Nora yelled from behind everyone, most jumped at the sudden appearance of the hammer wielder.

"Nora my herbal tea is not disgusting, also go help Jaune to his bed, seems as though he's unconscious."

Nora skipped over to Jaune's fallen form and picked him up with visible ease, and tossed him onto his bed, and dusted her hands off.

"Mission Complete, now let's eat." As Jaune lays unconscious, the rest of the teens happily ate some food, the days trials behind them. Now begins the start of their time in Beacon, to both learn and experience new things before they become Huntsmen and Huntresses, the protectors of Humanity. However what they didn't know was that the world and those dwelling in it may not see or want the same thing as them.

* * *

 **Outlands of Vacuo…**

Qrow Branwen professional Huntsman and professional alcoholic walked up a dirt path to the town of Gellar he stopped and sniffed the air, for the second time of his life smelled the sweet and sour odor wafting through the air. However unlike the first time, this smell was much stronger, it set is teeth on edge, every fiber of his body screamed for him to be ready to fight or if failing that run, run and never look back. He was sent by Ozpin to continue to look for the location of "The Queen," and if possible delay any and all operations she had going on that he could find. His sources had led to him tracking a company's worth of White Fang troops in Vacuo as they head south, the once peaceful organization had started turning to more violent methods to achieve their so called equality.

Qrow didn't hate the Faunus and understood the original plight of the old Fang, but these new ones, they were monsters. He finally crested the hill and below him was the town of Gellar. It was a small but well-built town, its outer walls were a dozen meters high and every hundred feet was a guard tower, Qrow could see each tower had a barrel sticking out of it, Qrow scratched his cheek slightly trying to remember what they were, something with cannon, self-loading cannon? No that sounded just silly, maybe it was cycle cannon, no that didn't sound right either, it clicked, they were called auto cannons, still kind of a silly name but heck they got the job done, most likely they were being made by the Arc's.

They were the only group with the resources and capabilities to supply both Kingdom militaries and Outlanders with armaments that didn't require a Huntsmen or Huntress. He smiled at that thought because of the jerk that was the current head of the Schnee Dust Company, he knows that he despises them, both for their well-loved reputation, and power that easily rivaled if not overshadowed the SDC. To top it off they were one of the oldest families around, tales of their ancestors could be found in almost any history book whether it was Kingdom based or Remnant. However at the same time not much is known about them, aside from being different in general, they also don't really use Dust in their weapons and also don't really prescribe to mecha shifting weapons mostly sticking to the pure form guns and blades.

Qrow stopped his train of thoughts when he came to the main gate of Gellar. The doors were broken apart; bullet holes covered the walls around them, the smell of burned dust lingered in the air, mixing with the foul sweat and sour odor. His hand reached for his sword slowly pulling it out, he peered around the wall. There was nothing, nothing alive that is, on the ground pools of blood were scattered about, bullet casings lay all around. The buildings that formed the entrance square all were shot up, none of the windows were intact.

More blood was splattered on the white walls of homes and shops. Qrow made his way to the closest building and scaled it, hoping to both get a better look and avoid getting seen. As he looked around he could see movement in the distance, on a small hill in the middle of the town was a statue. If he recalled the briefing that Ozpin gave him, this town was helped built by the Arc Family; whoever the statue was must have been the one that helped the settlers. It was no use now, the entire thing was chipped away to practically nothing but what looked to be the remains of legs.

Qrow made his way across the rooftops as best he could without drawing attention but as he made his way to the center he noticed that there wasn't a single body, plenty of blood and plenty of sighs of fighting. It didn't make any sense, as he got closer to the central hill he found his answers. He stopped at the last house before the clearing that led to the hill, roughly half a quarter of a mile away.

The White Fang had made two piles of bodies, the larger of the two was the former inhabitants, and another pile was that of the fallen White Fang members who had died in the assault. The two piles seemed to be in the center of a red circle, however what struck Qrow as strange was how there was eight members on their knees bowing and chanting around the circle, he couldn't pick out what they were saying however the pungent smell from before seemed to grow stronger. One White Fang member started his way into the circle and proceeded to climb the pile of bodies till he was on the top.

Qrow couldn't believe what he was seeing, a strange glow was starting to emit from the bottom ground in the circle, purplish flames came to life, and Qrow could feel the heat from the flames all the way from his perch on the rooftops. Then shit got weirder for him, as both piles of bodies exploded into a cloud of blood, the fire jumped out as if eager to lay claim to the blood. Qrow took out his scroll and for the first time in years, his hands shook, he clenched him and started to record what was happening in front of his eyes. A loud roar could be heard from the circle, and out came something that he has never seen, a trio of red skinned creatures roughly three meters tall, black horns seemed to curl up from the side of their long skulls, their legs were reverse jointed, and each had a long serrated black sword.

The lead one roared and charged forward towards the lines of the White Fang behind the creatures several dozen more seemed to crawl out of the fiery pit. Qrow recorded how the White Fang opened fired, the opening barrage tore through the creatures, he saw the lead one get its jaw ripped off, blackish blood poured down from the wound but the creature continued to charge till several more shots tore through its body each round spraying the black blood out, two of the rounds tore its arm off at the elbow, and finally it sank to its knees and yet Qrow could sense that it wasn't quite dead as it glared at the White Fang as the rest of its kin reached them.

As the other creatures reached their lines, Qrow knew that no one was making out of there alive, instead he went about sending his video footage of the last few minutes to Ozpin but as he hit the send button nothing happened, he hit it again, nothing, again, nothing, and again but before he did hit the button he realized something. The gunfire had stopped, as he slowly looked up he could see several of the creatures staring right at him, they knew.

"Ooooh they look mad, don't they?" A voice popped up next to Qrow, he could feel the sweat on the back of his neck freeze. He turned to see a lady standing next to him; she was roughly 5 foot 10 inches, shoulder length blood red hair that was tied back into a pony tail. She was dressed in a black clothes with a dark grey vest on top, various pouches stuffed with items that Qrow didn't recognize, however he did notice the handle of what looked to be short sword, either that or a large knife attached to her waist, he also had a short dark green cloak around her neck.

What drew his attention the most was the long barrel rifle in her hands, kind of looks like Ruby's weapon, he thought to himself. She lay down next to Qrow, setting up her rifle, she flicked down what looked to be a stand at the end of the long barrel and set it on the roof, and she turned too looked at him.

"It's rude to stare you know." She smiled, winking at him and went back to looking through the scope of the weapon and before Qrow could say anything, she fired. Whatever she fired was definitely a large caliber round like Ruby's, he looked in the distance and squinted his eyes, he saw the lead creature that was looking at them head erupt in a shower of blood, chunks of its skull splattering its comrades. She fired two more rounds each one displacing more and more dirt from the roof around them by the air pressure. She touched her throat, clicking a device set around her neck.

"Prime this is Ghost, targets finished off the White Fang and look set to move out, suggest commencing operation a.s.a.p." She talked low and clearly, whatever response that was given Qrow couldn't hear. She turned to him and flashed a grin, eyeing him up and down nodding as if she liked what she saw, he grinned back despite himself.

"So big guy, what brings you out here?"

"I got lost."

"You got lost?"

"Yea." She stared at him hard and for a second he could see her hand going down towards the handle of her blade, but instead she slapped her knee and laughed, Qrow just stood there and pulled out his flask and just as he did heard a colossal boom resound nearby. He turned to see a cloud of smoke and dirt dissipating in the distance where the creatures were, in the air were six Bullheads, all looked to be modified to be heavily armed and armored, the lead Bullhead flashed as it sent a trio of rocket hurtling towards the hill.

Qrow watched as three bright dots with thin trails of white smoke sped towards the hill, as they impacted three flashes bloomed on the hill, each sending massive cloud of smoke and fire into the air. The lady tapped his arm and pointed at the bottom of the hill; six of the creatures were running towards them and closing fast.

"Can you fight?" She asked, Qrow snorted at that and took out his weapon, opting to leave it in its sword form, she looked at and whistled.

"Big sword you got there, compensating for anything?"

"Only one way you're gonna find that out lady." She gave him a coquettish smile at that and took aim with her rifle again and firing at the creatures before they got to the buildings closest to them. The lead creature stepped the side in time to avoid getting hit in the chest by it but the round tore through its right shoulder leaving its arm hanging on by a few spindly muscles, it dropped it sword at that but instead elected to use its other arm to try and pick it up. She fired again, this time the round went through the creature's neck spending a fountain of blood spraying into the air. She switched targets and fired once more but the creatures had scattered to avoid getting shot at anymore. She stood up, ejecting the magazine from the rifle and replaced it with a new one, however she set it back down again and pulled out what looked to be a thick, boxy handgun, the magazine however was located in front of the trigger.

"Gah, Ozpin so fucking owes me after this." Qrow said, mostly to himself, the lady turned around confusion etched on her face.

"What the gak are you going on about?" Before he replied a creature came up from behind her, its long serrated black blade raised in the air and coming down to cut her head off. Qrow pulled her aside and raised his own blade to block it, as it hit his blade he knew he made a mistake. The strength of the creature was tremendous; he was barely able to keep the force of the strike from driving his blade into his own chest.

There was loud crack behind and for a second he though the lady had picked up her rifle again because in almost slow motion he could see a hole distort the creatures face, before the entire head exploded showering Qrow in black blood. He wiped his face with his sleeve, a slight burning sensation wherever the blood made contact with skin. Turning around he saw that she in fact didn't use her rifle but still had her pistol pointed in a two handed grip.

Before any words could be said the rest of the creatures took that moment to attack, one landed in front of him, the roof shank lower at the weight as the creature stood on it, it swung it's sword in a wide horizontal arc at his chest, Qrow ducked down and rolled to the left as it quickly reversed its blade and swung at him again. Qrow took the opportunity to cut down at the wrist of the creature. As the blade bit down severing the hand from its arm, it felt as though Qrow had hit a tree, had his strike been any weaker it no doubt wouldn't even have gone half way through.

The sword with the hand still attached dropped and slide off the roof, as the creature turned to face Qrow, the tip of his sword smashed into it, the blade buried itself into it, the creature went slack and started to fall back. The sound of gunfire roared behind Qrow and his ripped the blade out and turned one creature was already dead, and its chest a mass of ruined flesh and bone, black blood spilling out and flowing off the roof. Another was cradling it's a ruined arm as it lay on the roof, one of its legs were gone, severed at the knee.

However the woman apparently was out of ammo and the last creature was bearing down on her, she rolled to her right to avoid the thrust of the black blade; however the creature caught her by the ankle and posed the blade above her ready to stab down. However the blow never came but instead the loud boom of a shotgun, she looked up to see that the creatures arm was blown off at the shoulder, a second boom and the head exploded in a shower of bone fragments and blood.

"Heh, need a _hand_?" Came the gravelly voice of Qrow, she looked to see his hand lowered for her to take, and she did.

"That was terrible."

"Nah you enjoyed it."

"Whatever."

In the distance Qrow looked to see the Bullheads had landed around the hill, Qrow could barely see five figures stepped out from each one craft. Four of them looked like the woman next to him, however leading those four was a taller figure most had blond hair save for one who had short black hair, and each seemed to wear ornate suits of armor. Four of them wore black armor with red robes and a golden trim on the plates; three of them wore white faced helmets that covered their whole head, while the last seemed to have white hair.

All of them seemed to carry a bigger version of the pistol the lady next to him had. The fifth one wore purple armor with a golden trim, he looked to have blond hair that was going white, and in his hand was what looked to be a sword of some sort. The last individual had black hair and wore a slim golden armor, white cloth tucked into her waist flowed down, flapping in the wind, and she carried a simple long sword. She raised the sword and pointed it at the creatures that were forming up on the hill, more and more crawled out of the circle of purple flames.

The Bullheads took off after disgorging their passengers, muzzle flashes came from the nose of the crafts sending red shells streaking down at the creatures ripping them apart, more blooms of light erupted from the Bullheads and the white exhaust trails of rockets sped towards the hill covering it in explosions. At that moment the people on the ground charged, the people with less armor advanced slowly, each sending a burst of gunfire up the hill covering the advance of the others, alternating back and forth. Qrow was impressed; whoever this people were they weren't amateurs.

The black armored individuals however kept a steady pace while keeping a constant stream of gunfire by having each person send a burst of gunfire at set intervals, ensuring that whenever one needed to reload the other three were still able to fire as they moved. The other two were different, both moving as fast as they could up the hill to get into close range while drawing the creature's attention away from their less protected allies. Unlike Qrow's attempt at close combat they were much more knowledgeable about what they were facing, though the purple one must have been incredibly strong.

As his first swing knocked the blade from a creatures hand upon contact, his form though was also incredible, each swing and block was perfectly timed, no wasted movement, he must have had years if not decades of experience with the strength to back it up. The golden armored one was different, what they didn't have in terms of brute strength they made up in skillfully movement being able to dodge and parry any attack coming at them, in a sense one was a rock used to smash apart their foes while the other flowed around eroding, both different styles yet deadly.

Soon the creatures were being pushed back to the circle and there Qrow noticed the same White Fang members from before that were kneeling there, were still alive, they however seemed to been chained into position, it was then that Qrow thought that it must be what is allowing whatever those creatures were to be able to continue to come to existence, they were the anchors to keep the circle open. His theory was proven correct when a burst of gunfire from the supporting light infantry killed one, the creatures went into a panic and tried to go after them, but disciplined gunfire and the armored individuals kept them at bay.

Soon more of the White Fang members were killed and it was at that moment when the creatures started to run back to the circle, diving into the flames as if getting stuck there was something that they didn't want to experience. When the last of them were killed a scream filled with the utmost hatred echoed through the air, the people on the hill started to run off, and half way down the hilltop exploded in fire and smoke, as it slowly disappeared, Qrow could see not a single person was injured. As far as he knew none of the newcomers were hurt or killed. As the Bullheads slowly started to descend to pick them up, that was when he noticed the symbol on the side, it was two yellow arcs in a white circle, the symbol of the Arc Family. He turned to the lady next to him who had a big smile on her face as she watched the Bullheads, and he noticed on the sleeve of her arm there was also a white circle with two golden arcs, she noticed him looking and turned to him.

"Well that was fun."

* * *

 **Hey folks, thanks for sticking and reading my work, I'll try to have an update schedule set up for ya'll sometime, at this point though I just immediately start working on the next chapter after I write, edit, edit some more, drink copious amounts of coffee, start editing again and post. Also I'll try to give some response to your questions, but it doesn't mean I will give you something useful.**

 **So retrogunner7, I'mma give you something to think about in response to your question.**

 **Names.**

 **That's it.**

 **Finger101, thanks for reading hope I don't disappoint you like I did my parents back in High-school. (No Promises)**

 **Warhawk'42, I hope it is, cause that would be sad if it wasn't.**

 **Lastly and hopefully not final, FanciedFanfic, you go ahead and keep vibrating my friend though try to stick around this story is hopefully gonna go for a long run.**

 ***Queue The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Iron Maiden***

 **Anyways enjoy the chapter, I'll see ya around.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jaune woke to the sound of his scroll vibrating loudly on his nightstand. He turned over and looked at it for a second before shutting it off. Ren always gets mad when his sleep is disturbed, not so much by the scroll itself but by the chance that Nora might wake up. So far they've yet to discover the snooze function on Nora, science has failed them. He looked again at his scroll; it was a little after six in the morning, classes didn't start till nine. Jaune had started this after the first week of school, he had decided that he needed to spend extra time working out to try and catch up to the other first years.

He felt guilty that he didn't make it into the school legitimately and it showed in the lack of knowledge about Grimm or fighting in all his classes from history with Professor, ahem, Doctor Oobleck to Combat Class with Professor Goodwitch. To add onto that he now was responsible in with the lives of three other people, every time he attended a leadership lecture with Ruby he could never focus, worried that his lack of skill could and world get someone hurt or worse.

Though his new friends were always trying to encourage him, Ruby always told him that he was an amazing guy and that she was glad to meet him. Though she would always blush but Jaune figured that was because she thought she was saying something cheesy.

Ren and Nora always said that they think he's a good guy and that they knew that he would do his best at whatever challenged he face. Even Yang said that despite him being kind of a dork that he was a good person who was willing to do the right thing when needed. Blake had never really said anything to him, she wasn't super shy, she just didn't really see the need to talk with him and he was fine with that. Weiss on the other hand was still pretty rude to him and would continuously turn down him down whenever he asked her out on a date. However after her incident with Ruby over the issue of leadership even she would say that he's doing an okay job and someday he'd get better.

With the constant talk and belief laid on him by his friends, Jaune resolved that he would try and live up to their expectations, thus he had started to wake up early to work out. He'd do a wide range of things from cardio to weight training. Thankfully Beacon being a school with the primary focus was fighting monsters, had its own gym for students to train and practice in on their own accord outside of classes.

Even better he immediately started to notice progress sooner since he didn't get as tired as quickly as before Pyrrha unlocked his aura, he was able to work out twice as long with more weight than he original had prior to Beacon. Though he did notice it seemed that the progress he was making may be a bit abnormal even for those with aura. He figured that his body was just evolving or was it growing? Either way it was going at an incredibly fast rate.

Despite this growth there were still some things that he can't do on his own no matter how hard he tried. First would be his aura, it seems Pyrrha was right about him having a lot of it easily twice or three times higher than almost all the students in the school including the upperclassmen.

Having a high aura didn't mean he knew how to use it like the other students, Ren was able to use his aura to enhance his own abilities, making him react and move faster than normal and he was naturally a quick person, the only ones that were able to keep up with him were Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha naturally. In terms of enhanced abilities people like Yang, Ruby, and Blake had their semblances unlocked and are able to use them both effectively and in a practical fashion. For Jaune he couldn't do a thing on his own and sure his aura remained a passive thing, it made him stronger, gave him more stamina, and the ability to take more pain but nothing more. He was also really inept when it came to the use of various Dust types; Weiss the heiress of the world's most prominent Dust Company repeatedly asks how he hasn't killed himself in their Dust and Aura class.

Finally in terms of pure fighting ability Pyrrha ranks at the top of all of them, she had yet to even come close to losing a match. Even paired off with the second best fighter Yang, Pyrrha would beat her more often than not without a single hit on her. Whenever someone does land a hit on Pyrrha it was like breaking open a floodgate of painful hits and bruises.

Jaune on the other hand has yet to win a match, every time he gets into Combat class he's primarily paired off against Cardin Winchester, who not only mops the floor with him but enjoys it, and now has even taken to showing his disdain of Jaune outside of class. He sighed at the knowledge that today was the end of the week which meant that Combat Class with Goodwitch was today, he got up out of bed and headed to the bathroom to change into a pair of workout clothes, and then proceed to leave the dorm and his sleeping teammates in peace.

The moment the door closed Pyrrha opened her eyes, she always woke up with Jaune's alarm but she could never actually get up for fear getting too flustered and having things become awkward or something. She knew it was silly there was nothing to really be worried about yet something held her back, maybe it was her upbringing.

When she first started to win the Tournaments and get noticed by not only corporations but the public as well she had to act proper. Not only to make sure people took her serious but to not cause her parents any trouble by having people call them bad parents. On top of that her parents always taught her to be polite and respectful to everyone she meets, even if it was a stranger. In a sense she was kind of like Jaune in that manner, she smiled at that thought. Which brought her back to the dilemma she was having, she generally liked her partner, funny, kind, always listened to her as if she was a human being with feelings not something he could get bed with or use to gain fame or reputation.

He didn't see Pyrrha Nikos the four time champion, he saw Pyrrha Nikos the seventeen year old girl that just wants to hang out with her friends, eat chocolate, and watch movies. However he was a bit dense to her more, intimate emotions, when she had first seen him what she saw was a tall pale skinned guy with beautiful blond hair and blue eyes that seemed to as deep as the ocean, he had a handsome face despite it being a little babyish, but she liked it nonetheless.

Though she was starting to notice that he seemed to be changing, not mentally or anything but physically lately it feels like he's been growing taller and more muscular nothing dramatic but it was noticeable if one pays enough attention over a long period of time.

She blushed softly; it wasn't like she was keeping a spreadsheet of his growth over time or anything like that in her journal or something, no, that would be crazy. Like yesterday he had to throw away a shirt because it had grown too tight on him. Pyrrha wished she was able to take a picture of him before throwing it out but she had turned into a mumbling mess upon seeing him shirtless.

Nora who apparently detected her interest from day one in Jaune had tried taking a picture of him but panicked when Jaune had questioned her and threw her scroll out the nearest window. Goodwitch gave her detention upon learning about why her scroll was broken. She sighed softly as she sat up in her bed, stretching her arms over her head; well it was a new day and a new chance to get closer to Jaune.

* * *

 **Later that Afternoon…**

Pyrrha watched as Jaune left the cafeteria with a fake smile plastered all over his face. They had just finished a discussion where both teams had asked Jaune if he was getting bullied. He of course said they were overreacting and that he and Cardin Winchester were just messing about. She shivered in disgust at thinking about the guy, not only was he an arrogant bully that targeted others he thought weak he was also incredibly racist towards Faunus people.

"So when are we going to break his legs?" A saccharine voice came from behind her; Pyrrha let out a small squeak of surprise and turned to see the bright smiling face of Nora, inches away.

"W-w-what are you talking about Nora!? We can't break Cardin's legs for being a bully." Pyrrha said incredulously, her face burning up because she recalled whispering to Jaune that she would break his legs just before he left.

"Pyrrha you're soooo cute when you try to act innocent." She said as she sat back, she picked up her fork and speared a pancake and ate it in one bite, Pyrrha could never tell how she was able to do that or put away all the pancakes. The reason they had so far to explain Nora was simply that she was Nora; yea they didn't know what to do with her.

"Though we should really do something about Cardin, if he continues to bully Jaune, he might get hurt." Ruby chimed as she munched softly on a cookie. Yang snaked her arm around Ruby and drew her into a one arm hug.

"Oooh my baby sister is worried about her first friend it feels like yesterday when I use to find her hiding under the table with a plate of cookies wrapped in her cloak." Ruby flailed a bit before getting free from Yang's embrace.

"Yang this is serious, what if Jaune gets hurt because we didn't do anything?" Weiss who was for the most part ignoring the conversation chimed in at that point.

"As much as Jaune is a dimwitted fool who probably shouldn't be here, Ruby does have a point, he's not exactly the best fighter around, and we all know he's constantly getting beat up by Cardin in class, now it's just spilled into everyday life."

"Wow Ruby you must be doing wonders on Weiss, the Ice Queens beginning it almost sounded like she cared." Nora chirped as she poured more syrup over a single pancake before Ren reached over and took the bottle from her.

"Don't you mean _Weiss_ _Cream_?" Yang said leaning over the table to look at everyone, wagging her eyebrows up and down, a collective sigh of disappoint and weariness over taking the table. Pyrrha did go back to what Weiss was saying, and sadly it was true, Jaune despite his fitness was a terrible fighter. That's when it clicked in her head, she knew how to both cheer him up and help him. With that she excused herself from the table and left giddy at the idea, now all she had to do was go and look for the right spot.

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Ozpin sat in his chair sipping another cup of warm coffee, in the late hours of the day it was always nice being able to sit and relax. The ever present ticking from the gear mechanisms in his office may irritate some, but for him they were a sign of a constant. That constant wasn't something to be fear or annoyed at, it encompasses all those that reside not only on this world but wherever. However it seemed an old friend had returned and brought some very interesting guests for him.

"Qrow." He sipped softly once more before setting his cup down softly on the table before him, just as Qrow Branwen stepped out of the elevator. Behind him were two women, one was a short red hair woman wearing black fatigues, the Arc Family symbol shown visibly on her left breast. The other one was almost as tall as Ozpin, short cropped black hair, striking green eyes that shown bright with both conviction and intelligence. Unlike her other companion she wore a red coat that reached down to her knees, and wore a pair gray trousers and black boots.

"Oz, I'd like you to meet some new friends of mine, they helped me out during that mission in Vacuo."

"Ah, you mean the Gellar incident." For some reason that particular phrase seemed to warrant a reaction from the two women, the right hand of the red hair woman twitched as if it was used to holding a firearm. The eyes of the other seemed to harden for a second, the flash of cold fury burning in her eyes.

"Yea, well I'd introduce them myself but I believe I left something of mine here the last time I visited." Qrow eyed a small shelf where a decanter laid, a dark amber fluid in it. The taller woman stepped forward and bowed slightly.

"My name is Sanian Arc, I was given field command of the operation that led to contact with your agent." She nodded over to Qrow who had finished refilling his flask and was now drinking straight from the decanter, everyone stared at him but he shrugged uncaring for what they saw and went back to drinking.

"I'm sorry for whatever trouble he may have caused the purpose of him being there was mainly a reconnaissance's one."

"Maybe but I've seen him fight and he's more than just a scout, the way he moves, looks and stands speaks of a man used to acting in violent ways."

"Well it's sad to say but not many people enjoy having him around, I hear it's because of the drinking."

"I don't wish to clash with you Headmaster Ozpin."

"I had no intention of doing so nor did I expect that you wanted to clash, if I had to guess you're either here to ask what it is I'm doing or if I would like to help you and by extension the Arc Family." Sanian closed her eyes for a brief second and sighed in defeat.

"I was warned that you're more cunning then you look Ozpin, it seems that I should just be forthright with you." He raised a hand and took two more cups of coffee from below his desk, Qrow eyed him trying to figure out where the heck he keeps them because the desk had no drawers and was made of glass so you could see through it.

"Come sit Ms. Arc, I'm sure you have much to talk about." She sat in one of the chairs a leg folded over another and took a cup, sipping softly.

"This is a fine brew Headmaster."

"Please, call me Ozpin, and I didn't catch the name of your companion over there." They turned to regard the second woman in the room, who apparently was looking out the window with awe. Sanian coughed and she jumped and saluted out of apparent reflex her faced grew a little red as everyone watched her. Qrow just laughed in the background but everyone ignored him.

"Sehra Muril, nice view you have up here." She said she woodenly walked over to sit down, taking up the cup set in front of her blowing softly on it before taking a sip herself.

"Yes it is, one of the best sights in my opinion to see the surrounding area." She nodded her head in agreement at that, Sanian set her cup down.

"Ozpin I know you'd love to have a chat but I have a timetable to keep, the Arc Family wants to know what you're up too and whether or not you're going to be a hindrance to us or an ally."

"Well I can assure you that I'm not going to get in your way, Qrow's involvement with your work in Gellar was just a coincidence I can assure you of that."

"You mean to say that you didn't send him there to follow that White Fang company? You said yourself that he was on a reconnaissance mission for you, what else would he been on the lookout for?"

"That's not something I'm going to tell you without knowing myself whether your Family and I are on the same page."

"If the page you're talking about is for the safety of Remnant and all those who reside in it, then yes I'd say we're on the same page."

"Your perception of safety and the means to maintain it could in fact be different; I've met my fair share of people over the years that constantly say, The Ends justify the means, it's thinking like that which led us to both the Great War and the Faunus Revolution, what one thinks is best for the rest is not something I can abide by especially at the cost of who we are as people."

"I understand what you mean Headmaster but at the same time I can say the same about you and by extension the Kingdoms and other academies, you're well known amongst certain groups as being a highly intelligent man, the fact you've been in your position for so long with the kind of information or knowledge you might know is astounding, however you never struck me as a man that takes overt action, you're more of the cloak and dagger sort, you operate by proxy and work to make sure the public is never even aware of the sort of things that you've done or set up to be done."

"And what may I ask if is that you think that I may know?"

"Come Headmaster if I had to field every possible thing that you may or may not know I would not only waste days of our time but indirectly give you even more information that you in fact don't know." At that Qrow scoffed in agreement, if there ever was a man that fit the name Huntsman when it came to information or knowledge Ozpin would be the man.

"It's alright but if I may ask since it seems we're both trying to do the same thing but just by different methods why don't I speak with the Head of the Arc family to determine if we can work together, in a sense to pool our resources and if possible avoid clashing of agents." Ozpin said as he leaned forward, elbows resting on his desk as he brought his hands together.

"I'm sure such an idea wouldn't be so bad, the Arc Family always is willing to help protect both the Kingdoms and the people outside them." Ozpin smiled at that, standing up he walked around his desk and held his hand out, Sanian looked down at it and smiled, shaking it.

"Before you go and get in contact with your Family I have one thing to ask and in exchange I'll give you some information that you and your family may want." At this Sanian tilted her head to the side, her thoughts racing to find the answer to what he's up too.

"I'll tell you were Jaune Arc is, if that will help ease your mind." At this both Sehra and Sanian straightened slightly, no one in the family has yet been able to find out where he had went, Arabella was close to gathering a squad to go out and find him. Though Alexander had once again had talked her down, saying that it would be best to give him some time alone and let him grow as it were.

"Fine, ask whatever you want Ozpin but after you must tell me where he is." With that Ozpin took out his scroll and tapped a few keys. Qrow watched as in the middle of the room popped up a holographic showing of the town of Gellar, more specifically the center where the White Fang summoned those creatures. He stepped closer and noticed a small blue version of him standing on the rooftops recording. His eyes trailed over to the center and saw once more those very same creatures butchering the White Fang. Both Sanian and Sehra stood up to get a closer look, Sehra watched Qrow until he met her eyes and nodded to him, he nodded back before Ozpin cleared his throat.

"Very well Ms. Arc, I would like to know everything you and by extension the Arc Family knows about these creatures."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Pyrrha opened the door to her team's dorm and smiled softly at the warm atmosphere it gave off. Sitting in a desk Ren quietly drank from a cup of home brewed tea as he read a small red book. Nora was lying on her bed, surprisingly enough was also reading, but Pyrrha could see that she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Jaune was however was lying on his back with his eyes closed, he had a pair of white headphones on and the closer she got the noise of music could be heard softly emitting from them. She stood by his bedside and looked down at him. He must have felt her presence because that's when he opened his eyes and looked up quizzically at her and slipped his headphones off, the music became a little clearer.

"Something up, Pyrrha?"

"I need you to follow me." He sat and swung his legs over the side and slipped into a pair of black sneakers, the moment he was done, Pyrrha grabbed his arm and pulled him with her. Jaune struggled and failed to escape her grip and contented himself to just keep pace with her. Soon they were going off to a side corridor from the main dormitory hall and there was a steel door at the top, and the next thing he knew he was standing on a rooftop, Beacon's tower illuminated by the moon casting a soft green tinge to everything around them. He massaged his shoulder and looked up at the sky with awe.

"Beautiful…" Pyrrha could feel her face heat up, and shook her head, he obviously wasn't talking about her he meant the view.

"So… You gonna tell me why we're up here?"

"Oh! Yes, well Jaune I've noticed that you've been struggling a lot in combat class so I figured that I would bring you up here." Jaune's chest tightened upon hearing that, even his partner thinks he sucks.

"Wow Pyrrha I know I'm bad but I'm sure I can improve…" He gestured to the edge of the roof, going past that would be a good forty foot drop, her eyes widened at that.

"I'm sorry Jaune that isn't what I meant, please believe me." He laughed softly at that, the worry in her voice taking away the despair he'd been feeling for most of the day after the defeat in combat class and the conversation that his friends had during lunch about if he was getting bullied.

"I believe you Pyrrha; I know you wouldn't want me to kill myself over something like this."

"Yup! That's why I thought that if you needed some help why not practice in our downtime, combat class is useful but it's good to keep practicing outside of class." He could feel his smile crumble with each word.

"I….I'm sorry Pyrrha but I can't" Her heart clenched slightly at hearing him turn her down, her mind instantly playing a scene where she would finally confess and ask him out for him to say the exact same thing to her. She reached out softly to place her hand on his arm, squeezing it softly to reassure him.

"Jaune its okay to ask for help, we're teammates and partners, you can ask me anything and I'll do it for you."

"No Pyrrha. Thanks for the offer but I can't accept it." Jaune could feel guilt and anger fill his chest, why was he being a dick to Pyrrha, but he knew why it was because he didn't belong there and now someone is bringing themselves down to help him. What good was he that he needed to be others to do things for him, he couldn't accept Pyrrha's offer he needed to get stronger himself.

"Look Pyrrha I just can't accept your help in this, I need to be able to prove to myself that I can do it, if I can't do this on my own then what good am I? I've been nothing but a failure and now it's just showing more and more that I'll always be a failure." Pyrrha placed her other hand on Jaune's arm, it was painful to hear him talk like that, she could see so much potential in him, what he needed was a little more confidence.

"Jaune you're not a failure, you made it into Beacon, you passed the initiation, you lead us to killing that Deathstalker, and now you're our Team Leader." She didn't get any further, he stepped back breaking away from her grip, anger flooded his eyes.

"I'M A FRAUD!" He yelled back, Pyrrha didn't say anything unsure of what he meant but she could feel that things weren't going well.

"I'm a fucking fraud Pyrrha, I didn't get into Beacon, I didn't pass any fucking test, and I got my hands on some fake papers and used them to get in." Pyrrha was silent, words failing to come out, so she stood there looking away from Jaune before trying once more to speak.

"Jaune I…" He cut her off.

"Just get out of here Pyrrha….I…I need some time alone." Unable to say anything, a lump in her throat, and could feel a stinging sensation in her eyes, she stood there for a few moments and then silently turned away. The moment he was alone Jaune stared up at the broken moon with his hands behind his head, he felt nothing but guilt, he yelled at his friend and partner all because she was trying to help him and he couldn't accept it. Now with his secret exposed she'll probably hate him for lying and cheating his way in, nothing could make this worse.

"Why helloooooo there Jauney Boy." An incredibly annoying voice rose up, and Jaune turned to see the sneering face of Cardin Winchester rise from the side of the building.

"Cardin, what do you want?" He stepped closer and wrapped an arm around Jaune's neck and pulled him close.

"Well Jauney Boy I couldn't help but over hear that you cheated your way into Beacon, now I gotta give ya props for lying like that, that's pretty fucking dope, however I see it as my duty to tell Professor Goodwitch what you did, however if you don't wanna be on the next airship out of here I think we should help each other out, if you do that essay for Doctor Oobleck I'll turn a blind eye to your situation." He said squeezing Jaune's head tighter and tighter. Jaune wanted to tell him to jump off the roof but he knew that if he refused he'd be kicked out and he'd never see his friends again. Once again he thought to himself, he was too weak to do anything, the acidic taste of bile in the back of his throat made him want to gag, he nodded slightly. Cardin let him go and pushed him aside and started to climb down.

"Don't worry Jaune as long as you do what I tell you, we're gonna be good friends." Jaune stood there on the roof, not only did he hurt and probably piss off Pyrrha, revealing that he's a fake, but now he's getting blackmailed into doing stuff for Cardin fucking Winchester, he responded in a reasonable fashion.

"Fuck."

* * *

 **1 Week Later…**

"What's wrong with Jaune?" Ruby asked after once again seeing Jaune get dragged off by Cardin as soon as he walked through the cafeteria doors. Pyrrha who's mostly been sulking didn't bother to respond and contented herself to just staring out a nearby window, she's been a mess of emotions recently, after hearing Jaune's secret coupled with his explosive outburst she wasn't sure how to approach him anymore.

Now with him hanging out with Cardin she just felt more and more confused and hurt, did he think that he should no longer associate with her and the team? She didn't know, and she didn't know how to find a solution to this new situation, maybe it was best just to let Jaune figure it out alone.

"I don't know Ruby but he's getting pretty close with Cardin over the last few days, it's kind of creepy, maybe they're hooking up?" Yang said as she popped a grape into her mouth, a thoughtful look on her face, Pyrrha and Ruby both looked back and forth between her and the door which Cardin and Jaune went out of, the look of horror on their faces slowly giving way to the flustering thoughts of their daydreams of a certain boy.

Blake also had an interesting look on her face at that thought before taking out her notebook to write something down. Ruby looked over at Pyrrha, her apparent demeanor of indifference was annoying, how could she not care for Jaune's state, he's her partner, she knew that if she was partnered with him she'd stick by and help him in any way she could.

Pyrrha though seemed to think that it wasn't her problem that the concerns around her team leader wasn't something that needed to be looked at, maybe it was her celebrity status, maybe she just didn't really care for Jaune or the others as long as she's doing well.

She clenched her fist in determination, if Pyrrha won't do something, she will.

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Jaune stood outside the door to his team's room, no not his team, he's been a terrible leader and a terrible friend, but he wasn't sure what he could do. He softly closed the door and leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down, the last few days have been a strain on him, between doing his own work as a student and leader along with all of CRDL. In the end it didn't matter as long as he didn't give away his secret then it would be okay and he could stay with his friends, at least that's what Jaune hoped for at first.

It seems with his new "relationship" with Cardin has sparked some annoyance with his friends, Pyrrha hasn't spoken more than a handful of words to Jaune, Ren and Nora always seem to need to go whenever he suddenly comes into the room, Yang, Blake and Weiss at this point just go about him like someone they know in passing, even Ruby seemed standoffish as if she wasn't sure what to do around him.

"Hey Jaune." Well speak of the devil and he shall provide, Ruby stood outside her door in her standard pajamas, her hands were on her hip and she looked at Jaune with a slightly amused expression.

"Hi Ruby."

"Did you lock yourself out again?"

"What? N-no, I'm just sitting that's all." Her face fell a little at that, a complex expression taking place and she sat down next to him.

"Is there anything you wanna talk about?"

"No."

"Jaune you can tell me anything, I'm your friend, if there's anything you need to get off your chest you can tell me." Jaune looked at her, for a girl as young as her; Ruby could be surprisingly mature whenever the time called for it.

"Well it's this whole Cardin situation, he's got me on a lease and now no one is really talking to me anymore, in fact you're the only person who's had a decent conversation with me for the last few days, I've let Pyrrha down and my team, I'm a failure." Ruby scrunched up her face a little at the mention of Pyrrha but Jaune didn't notice because he had his head in his hands at that moment, though it softened after a second before a smile appeared on her lips.

"Nope!" A noticeable popping at the end of her declaration, Jaune just looked at her confused.

"What?"

"Nope, you're a Team Leader Jaune you're not allowed to be a failure."

"But what if I am a failure at being a Team Leader?"

"Nope."

"You're not making this an easy conversation, you know that, right?"

"Nope! Jaune it's no longer just about you or me, we're in the position of leading our teams and that means we're not allowed to fail, if we fail then our teams fails, and I know you'd never fail if it might jeopardize your team Jaune, you're a good guy you'll do what's right." With that Ruby got up and leaned over in front of Jaune, he turned his head to the side a little to avoiding getting an accidental glimpse down her shirt. Though he ended up missing her little show and furrowed her eyebrows in frustration at him missing it but she patted his head nonetheless in a way to show her confidence in him.

"Night Jaune, try to get some rest, will ya?" He nodded in response, and she entered her room, Weiss was studying at one of the desks and Blake was writing something in a notebook. Yang however stood in the center, arms crossed and foot tapping the ground slightly, the moment Ruby closed the door Yang yanked her into their bathroom and closed the door.

"Yang! I don't need you to keep showing me how much you've grown, sheesh!" Ruby said crossing her arms and turning away in annoyance, but Yang stopped her.

"Ruby as your sister, I need to know…do you like Jaune?" Ruby flashed red for a second.

"W-W-What are you talking about Yang!" Yang rolled her eyes and poked Ruby's forehead.

"Come on Ruby I see how you look every time Pyrrha and Jaune are together."

"FINE! Maybe I do like him so what!?"

"Ruby I'm not faulting you for liking the guy, he's nice despite a few dorky traits but I don't think he's good for you specifically, and I don't want to see you get hurt because he doesn't reciprocate your feelings for him."

"Yang I get your concern and yes I'm worried but if I don't do anything because I'm worried of getting hurt how am I gonna grow?" Yang stepped forward and hugged her little sister, rubbing the top of her head softly, Ruby always enjoyed it when Yang did that it always brought forth a familiar warm feeling of her mother.

"I know Ruby, but don't be in such a rush to grow up, sometimes it's best just to enjoy the moment."

"Thanks Yang, I know you mean well and I'll always love you but I just feel like it's the right thing to do."

"I know Ruby, I know."

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

The forest of Forever Fall was a breathtaking sight; it was a sea of beautiful red trees as far as the eye can see. Jaune Arc however was unable to enjoy it as the other students with him on this trip, he was still tired from the night before when Cardin had him go out and gather a bunch of wasps. Thankfully he didn't get stung by any of the things, caused the stingers looked like they'd hurt alone.

Now though he was also struggling to carry all of the jars that Goodwitch gave him without dropping any, it was only then that he noticed that she was talking, something about collecting sap for Professor Peach, which got him thinking, no one has seen Professor Peach at all and it's been almost two months since Beacon started. The look on Professor Goodwitch's face could clue him in that she must annoy Goodwitch quite often, with that she left them off to do their assignment with their teams. He looked over at his and team RWBY, Pyrrha was watching him back, before he could say or move and Cardin grabbed him by the neck and guided him away.

"You're coming with us Jauney Boy."

"Crap." Pyrrha watched as once again Jaune was led away from them, there wasn't much she can do at this point, while she would happily have him back, she couldn't help him, this was something he needed to do alone.

Jaune watched as Pyrrha turned around and left the opposite direction as he was led by Cardin which probably meant she was still upset at him from what happened the last time they talked. Cardin let go of Jaune and he nearly fell to the ground, the rest of team CRDL just laughed at him.

"Well Jauney Boy as much as me and the guys here wanna collect some shitty sap, we figured we'd let you have that joyful experience instead, make sure to get six jars." He nodded in reluctant compliance, though the thought of why did Cardin need six jars passed through his mind as he started to collect the sap, sadly that thought was brushed as Jaune started to feel itchy along with his nose congesting.

"Shit."

Pyrrha finally found where the rest of her team is, they were hanging around team RWBY, Nora and Ruby were chatting at a speed at which Pyrrha doubt she could both listen and respond to. Ren the quietest member of the group was efficiently working on getting as many jars of sap out as he could, though it seemed for every one that he filled another went missing before showing up again empty.

Nora was drinking them like water. Weiss was on the next tree over, surprisingly enough she hasn't complained about anything so far, maybe Ruby was a good influence, Yang occasionally stepped in to tease her younger sister.

Though how they were actually sisters escaped Pyrrha, they both say they're dad lives in Patch but they look so different and have different names, maybe one's adopted, she didn't know. Blake similar to Ren was quietly working next to everyone, though Pyrrha could see the occasionally twitch of a smile on her face.

"Pyrrha! Pyrrha! Did you see The Fearless Leader is he joining us?!" Nora came bouncing as she held onto another empty jar.

"I'm sorry Nora but it seems he won't be joining us today either."

"Awwwwww does Jaune Jaune not like us anymore?" Her bottom lip quivered slightly and she held onto the glass jar as if it was going to comfort her. Pyrrha put her hand on Nora's shoulder and patted it softly.

"No Nora he still likes us but he's just going through some stuff that he needs to sort out."

Unbeknownst to the rest of the group Jaune and team CRDL were already watching them from above. Jaune watched with both sadness and pride to see his team and team RWBY working together and having fun, he sorely wished that he could join them. He saw Pyrrha working diligently as she worked to gather sap from a tree, Nora was eying the jar from afar, her stash from Ren cut off as he held onto them.

"That's her, the Miss Perfect Know it All Red hair bitch." Jaune felt his eye twitch at that, how dare he talk about his teammate, his partner, his friend like that. However Jaune didn't say anything, he couldn't, if he defied Cardin his secret will be out and he'll be gone before the day ends. Cardin stood up along with the rest of his team, Jaune stood up a second later before he was forced too, suddenly Cardin pushed the jar of red sap into his hands.

"If I recall from an essay you wrote for me, this sap is something that Rapier wasps love, and since you got the wasps we're now going to do a little test, I want you to throw it at her, that'll teach her not to be so stuck up." He pointed down at the back of Pyrrha, her brilliant red hair blending in with the surrounding environment; however nature's rough beauty wasn't in the same league as her graceful beauty that she always has.

Now Cardin wants him to throw a glass jar of this sap at her, though it may not hurt her red sap would be disastrous but to add onto it he wanted to set Rapier wasps on her after it, Jaune couldn't let that happen, he'd never hurt Pyrrha.

"No." Cardin's face grew wrathful at that, his hands clenching into fists, his teammates slowly spread out to surround Jaune.

"I SAID NO!" Jaune could feel a fire burning in his chest as he yelled out, twirling and throwing the jar as hard as he could; the sound of glass shattering quickly brought him back to reality. He looked up to see sap covering Cardin chest piece, he cracked his knuckles.

"You've made a big mistake Jauney Boy." Next thing Jaune knew was someone had kicked him in the back of the knee, his leg gave out on reflex and another person pushed him to the ground. Off in the distance Blake thought she heard the sound of someone yelling, she whipped her head around trying to pinpoint the direction that it could come from.

"Is something a matter Blake?" A quiet voice said from next to her, and she turned to see the magenta eyes of Lie Ren looking right at her, she shook her head.

"It's nothing."

Jaune was trying to protect his face from getting kicked or punched but still a few slipped past and he could feel his bottom lip swelling and his left eye felt as if it wasn't opening as far as it could. Soon enough the blows stopped and Jaune released a pent-up breath, before a pair of hands dragged him up to the face of Cardin.

"You wanna change your answer now Jauney Boy." Jaune spat to the side, anger once more gripping at him as he stared right back at Cardin.

"You can do whatever you want with me, but don't you fucking dare target my team." Cardin snarled at this and lifted Jaune slightly off the ground.

"What!? You think you're some tough guy now? You think cause you say these words you're some fucking badass? Well news flash you're a loser and will forever be a loser." Cardin drew back a fist and punched Jaune in the nose, and his world exploded in a flash of light, however there wasn't any pain.

He fell to the ground and opened one eye, Cardin was holding his fist and his teammates were looking around confused what was going on. Jaune looked down and saw his body covered in a white light, just like when Pyrrha first unlocked his aura during Initiation he could feel the bruises and swelling from getting hit disappear.

Cardin looked at Jaune in anger and for a second Jaune thought that he was going to draw out his mace and attack him, life seemed to have other ideas, a crash and a roar sounded from behind Cardin who turned around to see a Ursa Major, large bone spikes protruding from its back, various bone plates covering its body, claws nearly a foot long and two inches thick, it swung a paw at Cardin who barely got his arms up in time to protect himself. The rest of his team fled the moment it hit Cardin, Jaune sat there confused as the Ursa Major sniffed at him before going back to Cardin who lay a dozen feet away, that's when it hit Jaune, the sap must be attracting it.

"Ursa! Ursa!" The remaining team members of CRDL yelled as they were running through the forest, Yang stepped in front of a boy with a Mohawk, he ran right into her nearly fell back while she remained unmoved by the contact; however she grabbed him by his shirt and brought him forward. Her eyes were tinted slightly red, cause she knew that Jaune was still missing along with that asshole Cardin.

"What are you talking about?"

"There's a big Ursa Major, it's got Cardin!" Pyrrha stood up straight at that, panic rose in her stomach and fear of what might happen to Jaune played through her mind.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha gasped her jar falling from her hands, as she reached for Miló and Akoúo̱.

"Weiss you're with me, Yang, Blake go find Professor Goodwitch." Ruby said as she drew her beloved scythe, Pyrrha turned to Nora and Ren.

"Go with them, just in case there's any more Grimm around." With that Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss took off in the direction of roars.

Jaune watched as the Ursa knocked the mace from Cardin's hands and time seemed to slow down. Here he was sitting back watching as Cardin is getting attack by a Grimm and he was doing nothing, if he let the Ursa finish him off then his secret is safe and he wouldn't have to be worried about Cardin bullying or threatening his friends anymore. Yet Jaune felt disgusted at the idea of leaving another human being at the mercy of a monster, and he thought about what his parents would do they would not hesitate in stepping in to help him. He looked to the red leaves, they reminded him of her, and he thought about what Pyrrha would think of him if she found out about it, he knew what he needed to do.

Cardin watched as the Grimm stalked towards him, he never thought he'd die like this, without his mace he felt naked; he could feel the cold grip of fear around his heart. As the creature reared back standing at its full height he could see it raise its paw to strike once more at him and he closed his eyes as it came down, he heard the impact of the claws striking metal but what threw him for a loop was the grunt of effort after it.

He looked up to see the white chest plate of Jaune Arc standing above him. He was holding back the Grimm, his sword was drawn at his side, and he stabbed forward the blade biting into the underside of the Ursa's arm, it stepped back and roared in anger of getting hit. Cardin was stunned Jaune Arc the weakling that could never win in spars now was not only saving him but doing a lot better than he did.

Jaune could feel his arm go numb after blocking the first strike, he smiled with glee when he had actually hurt the creature, sure it was practically a paper cut, but a step is still a step. Now he circled around it, his shield held out in front of him and his sword pointed down slightly to the right. The first thing he needed to do was prevent Cardin from dying, which he was able to do without dying him, a cause for celebration a small part of his mind said but he need to work out a plan to outlast and possible kill it by himself.

He need to go on the offensive, he was smaller and could probably out maneuver it, he ran straight towards it, it swiped a massive paw at him and he jumped forward to try and land inside its reach but he miscalculated and the second paw came fast for him and in air with no way to adjust his course he brought his shield close to his chest and took the hit. He must have flown a dozen feet and once more landed on his back, but he didn't have time to catch his breath, any second wasted could get him or Cardin killed.

So he quickly got to his feet and once more started to run in, and a repeat happened but instead of jumping up to avoid the strike jump, he slide on the ground going under it, and brought his sword down as hard as he could, the blade easily cutting a long furrow across it arm, Jaune immediately got to his feet and rolled into the next strike. Displaced air blowing his hair apart and he stabbed forward again the tip of his blade burying itself a good foot into the middle of its torso before the back swing of its arm sent him once again into the air to land next to Cardin, who looked like a scared child unable to say or do anything. He needed to end this quick any longer and there might be a mistake that he'll never walk away from, the Ursa charged and Jaune did the one thing he could think of, he charged.

Off to the side Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss came into the clearing, they saw Jaune and the Ursa across from each other, and all but Pyrrha dropped into their combat stances. Ruby could see that Jaune was tired and fear took hold for a second before she shook her head and turned to her partner.

"On my mark!" Ruby said, Weiss got her weapon Myrtenaster ready and they were both about to charge when Pyrrha stepped in front of them.

"Wait." Ruby felt her eye twitch slightly and a small anger started to boil in her stomach.

"What do you mean wait? Pyrrha just cause you don't care about your partner doesn't mean I'm going to leave him alone." Pyrrha looked sharply at Ruby and Weiss was thrown off for a second when she saw the hate go through her emerald eyes.

"Do not speak of my situation with me and my partner Ruby Rose that's for us and us alone to deal with and no I'm not abandoning him because I know full well that stepping in now will crush him spiritual, he needs to fight this, alone." Ruby stared back and then finally looked away clearly not happy about what's happening, before guilt broke out on her face.

"I'm sorry Pyrrha; Jaune's my friend I just don't want him to get hurt."

"It's okay Ruby I understand." Weiss just looked back and forth, she wasn't sure what just happened but she could tell that neither girl was particular liking the other at the moment.

As they looked back at Jaune, he was holding out well enough, his first attempt didn't go so well but the second time around he immediately solved his issue and exploited the uncreative nature of the Grimm by changing how he reacted at the last second. Now both were charging at each other and Pyrrha could see that Jaune's strike would finish the Ursa Major off, however he had let his shield fall and he would end up taking a painful hit at the same time, so she at the last second reached out with a power that Huntsmen and Huntresses each have that is unique as the person themselves.

Jaune shield raised up and blocked the claws as they slide harmlessly off it, his own swing reached up and decapitated the creature. Everyone save Pyrrha watched in amazement, as Jaune Arc rose standing tall, and walked over to Cardin and held out his hand, Cardin stared as if he's met a new person and took the hand; surprisingly he had a grip that Cardin struggled to match.

"Holy shit, Jaune that was amazing." Jaune stepped forward and looked straight into his eyes, and Cardin could see a fire burning behind him and he knew that pushing him anymore is no longer a smart thing to do not only that despite him being a asshole to him, Jaune didn't abandon him like his teammates he protected him.

"Don't mess with me or my team, my friends, ever again." With that he let go of Cardin's hand and walked away.

"Jaune!" He turned just in time to catch a speeding red ball of energy, better known as Ruby Rose barreling towards him; he nearly fell back by the force of her impact.

"That was amazing Jaune, you kicked butt out there." He smiled and patted her head softly, in the back he could see Weiss and Pyrrha, his eyes met Pyrrha's and she smiled, he felt his heart flutter and smiled brightly back.

"I think we should go back and find Goodwitch and the others." Weiss called out, mostly indifferent to the emotional time everyone was having. Suffice to say Professor Goodwitch lectured Cardin's teammates for abandoning their leader, Cardin shot them all dirty glares that promised that he'd give them a piece of his own mind. However he looked up to see Jaune Arc standing and talking once more happily with all his friends and teammates, and Cardin decided that it would be best if he forgot what he knew of Jaune Arc's transcripts.

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Jaune was once again standing on the rooftop that he and Pyrrha last met, he had been going back there whenever he could, it was still a beautiful sight despite it being where he had hurt Pyrrha and rejected her offer to train and help him.

"Jaune?" He turned around to see Pyrrha standing with her at her arm at her sides as she stood at the doorway.

"Oh hey Pyrrha, I'm glad I caught you, I…uh…I need to apologize for being a asshole earlier, I had all these ideas that I needed to do everything by myself and well it kind of made me a jerk, and I wanted to ask for your forgiveness, though it's okay if you don't." He bowed at the waist, eyes clenched shut waiting for her to get mad and tell him off but instead he left her hand touch his shoulder.

"Jaune it's okay, I forgave you the moment you were able to stand tall on your own, though that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't come to your team or me for help, I'll always be by your side." He stood up and looked at her, she was smiling and he could practically taste the joy radiating off her. She let go of his shoulder and turned around to walk back inside.

"You should come and spend some time with your team now Jaune, we've missed you, also Ren maaaaaaade Paaaancakes though there's no syrup you can thank Nora for that." She went to reach for the door but was stopped when she felt a gentle hand grip her arm slightly, his hand was so warm and gentle yet had rough feel to it like someone used to manual labor, and she blushed at her train of thoughts.

"Pyrrha I know that I have no right to ask this, but….but could you help me become a better fighter?" She turned in a flash, a smile once more spreading across her face, joy leapt through her heart at hearing him asking her that. She did the most logical thing next, both to show that she's accepting his request but also a little payback for him having her so worried for the last week, she pushed him, hard.

"Ow! Holy smoke I forget how strong you are." He said on the ground before he sat up, before he could say anything else her hand was extended out to help him up.

"You're doing it wrong, you're stance needs to wider and lower to the ground." She said as a grin split her face, he knew she was just messing with him and took hold of her hand and she pulled him up and they stood there smiling at each other, hands still holding.

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, my nephew has a girlfriend already!" A voice popped up behind them and both teens let go of each other's hand, their faces heating up, Pyrrha saw a pale woman with short black hair and eyes similar to her own but where Pyrrha's shown bright like an emerald this woman's eyes resemble that of a lush green forest, both healthy and strong. She also was just barely taller than Pyrrha and everything about her from her stance of leaning back slightly with her hands crossed spoke of an adept fighter to her presence alone. She had a teasing smile open on her face but Pyrrha could see that there was both worry and relief in the back at seeing Jaune. She also wore a loose white blouse and black business trousers, the soft clack of heels could be heard as she walked forward and hugged Jaune.

"Oh how I've missed you, you never call or write Brin and I missed having you around the home." Jaune however felt as if he was in a nightmare that came true. If she was here than the rest of the family must have been worried sick and their worry must have been trumped by his mother and when his mother finds out she's going to be pissed at him for leaving as he did. So he once more responded in a seemingly common fashion whenever it feels as if the universe was conspiring against him.

"Fuck."

* * *

 **Ooooh Shit if only he knew, anyways Happy New Years everyone!**

 **"But that was yesterday!"**

 **Shut up and take it**

 **Anyways I was gonna post this yesterday at midnight but I got sidetracked by helping a friend with his party, so think lots of drunk college people, yea I didn't come home till 4 in the morning.**

 **Anyways I hope you enjoyed the chapter I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as I can**

 **So take care everyone and I'll see you in next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jaune wondered what the possibility of death was if he jumped out the window in his dorm. With his luck and aura he probably would do more harm to the ground than himself, stupid aura. With the sudden appearance of his Aunt Sanian it felt like he was on a roller coaster of embarrassment, not only did she literally drag him back to his dorm after he tried to run away from her, his own partner even guided her to their dorm. Now he was lying down on his bed doing his best not to scream in frustration at all the stories she was telling. To add salt onto that wound, team RWBY had entered upon hearing the commotion and now he had six girls getting told how his sisters dressed him up as a girl when he was young. Thankfully she didn't have any pictures of that, though it seems everyone was nonetheless, very entertained by her.

"Oh Vomit boy, you gotta bring your aunt around more often, she's freaking hilarious." Yang said as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, she was the one enjoying the stories the most, the amount of teasing material was too good to give up.

"Please kill me." Ren, who was sitting in a chair besides Jaune, reading a book and sipping quietly from a cup, patted Jaune on the arm as if he was comforting a dying man.

"Jaune, they're not that bad, it's actually very sweet how you, your sisters, and your extended family get along." Pyrrha said nodding at his aunt's direction as she just sat there, a smile wide on her face.

"Pfffffffft Pyrrha, of course you'd say that." Nora chimed in, as she put her pink headphones back on and sat next to Ren. Ruby glowered slightly at both Nora and Pyrrha, the former ignored her, and the latter matched her gaze.

"Well Jaune's practically loved by the entire family, when I heard that his father finally had a son, I could imagine his joy at breaking that streak of girls, probably cause he thought Jaune would look like him, sadly his mother's features are more noticeable." Sanian said as she set her cup down and the desk next to her, placing her hands in her lap, a look of nostalgia on her face. It was at that moment when Weiss, who admittedly enjoyed hearing Jaune's embarrassing childhood stories, face dropped, she finally realized why the Arc name sounded so familiar.

"Excuse me Ms. Arc, but you wouldn't happen to mean the Arc Family, who just so happen to be one of the oldest and most powerful families in history?"

"I'm not surprised you were the one to try and ask me that Ms. Schnee, but to answer the question yes, and Jaune here is the son of Alexander Arc." Pyrrha perked up at this and turned to look at Jaune who sat up in his bed, a small guilt could be shown at the mention of that name.

"Wait, Jaune here is the son of Alexander the Great Arc one of the greatest warriors during the Great War, said to have broken the back of Mistrals Southern Army Group at the siege of Thionville that outnumbered his besieging army a hundred to one?" Pyrrha asked, at first confused why Jaune was so terrible a swordsman with a father like that, then confused why he had to fake his way into Beacon at all.

"Yes Ms. Nikos and just so you know his mother is also Saint Arabella the Liberator." Sanian said as she glanced over at Blake, who didn't miss her glance nor did she miss the name.

"So his mother is also the one to rally the Faunas in Mantle during the Great War that were being used as slave labor and not only fought her way out with a single regiment of soldiers but also an army of former slaves both sick and wounded all the way to Vacuo?"

"That is correct Ms. Belladonna." Blake stood up at hearing this, she now knew someone whose parent did more for the Faunus than the White Fang has ever been able to do both the old and new one, and maybe that was why the old leader stepped down. Yang finally spoke up after processing some of the information.

"Wasn't she also the one that convinced the Arc's into going to war against essentially all four Kingdoms because she didn't like how it seemed that the Kingdoms were trying to herd and keep Faunus on Menagerie and ban them from the Kingdoms?" Blake nearly went over to smack Jaune, how he was not able to be a better fighter with parents like that. Jaune looked at faces of his friends, Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Weiss; even Ren all looked at him trying to figure out why he wasn't like his parents, a question he himself has wondered so often.

"Look everyone I know you're probably thinking why am I not like them, well it's the fact that my parents are just different, even aunt Sanian is different to most people, they're the culmination of years of training and warfare between both people and Grimm, if you threw any of us into a situation like that we'd come out with the experience and knowledge that would dwarf anyone that lived in peaceful times or students like us for that matter, and to add on top of that my family also has kept a close eye on any major Grimm movements while the Kingdoms fought both each other and them during the wars." Most of them nodded in acceptance to such an answer, though it did leave them slightly unsatisfied to why Jaune seemed so different. Ren stood up at that to refill Sanian's cup, from a portable stove burner that they got permission to use in their dorms.

"Jaune I can understand your reason and for the most part it probably is the truth, however while you may speak the truth, I feel that what you've been told isn't the whole truth either, yes it's true that those conflicts shaped the men and women that entered and survived it, however I won't lie the moment I met you, I knew you were a part of the Arc Family so I did some reading." He said as he once again took a seat in the chair next to Jaune, his magenta eyes focusing on Jaune.

"From all the accounts to how and why the war started, the Arcs were the only ones to enter in later after everyone else, though they ultimately took the side of Vacuo and Vale; they were a force to be reckoned with. The men and women that filled the ranks of their armies were more capable of fighting on such a large scale conflict, not only that, the ability to adapt and react to the way the other Kingdoms fought them in such an easy manner are telling of the fact that the Arcs were seasoned veterans of war long before the Great War and the Faunus Rights Revolution. So despite you telling us the truth I feel that the truth hasn't been revealed entirely to you either" Jaune narrowed his eyes as his friend vented his thoughts, Sanian took this as her queue to stand up and pat the front of her legs softly.

"Well it appears it's getting late out and I rather not keep you from enjoying your weekend, Jaune if you wouldn't mind walking with me to my ship." She said with a soft smile, her arm raised out slightly to beckon Jaune to her, he sighed and got up and both of them left, Ruby was the first to speak after the door closed.

"I don't get it, why is everyone so worked up about the Arc's? Sure they fought in some wars and are really great warriors but why is it important?" Weiss sighed and rubbed her eyes softly, despite her taking to liking both her team leader and group they can still be so damn annoying in their ignorance.

"Look Ruby, the territory in which the Arc Family is said to be probably five times that of the city of Vale however no one knows if that's just for their capital or if the entire territory that's how little we know, they've always asked that any political dealing and meeting between them and the Kingdoms happen elsewhere so no one really knows where they are. Since they don't really rely on Dust and seem to have a way to supply resources for themselves, even businesses like the SDC don't know where they are. All that is known is the account of a captured Vale Army officer who recounted waking up in a hospital bed and looked out to see a city of white, what he learned from a nurse before what he assumed was Intelligence officers came to take him away was that the city was known as Clove, yet as far as most historians know they've been around since practically forever, there isn't a major history book that I've come across that didn't refer or talk about an Arc member, their actions in both the Great War and Faunus Revolution War are also remarkable. In the Great War they were the deciding factor to ending that conflict, it's said that they could field the most professional and experienced army in the entire war despite coming into the conflict later than the rest. Along with their different view of dust and its usage, the weapons and armor they produce are always top of the line and it seems that they use a different material to make their ammunition and weaponry, a little cruder from what I hear but they make do with what they have, though that doesn't mean they don't use Dust, their weapons are just for the lack of a better term, different." Weiss sat down in the nearest chair, a million thoughts going through her head on what she should do next now that she knew this information. Pyrrha put her hand on Weiss's shoulder and looked around the room once more silence had descended so she spoke up.

"No matter what, I think it would be the best to still treat Jaune as he is, it doesn't matter what family he comes from, and he's still our friend, I believe this is something he would want." Everyone nodded their head in acceptance upon hearing that, team RWBY said goodnight to all of them and went back to their own rooms. Ren and Pyrrha cleaned up a little as Nora went to go get changed, as they finished up Pyrrha couldn't help but remember the more memorable part of her evening in which Jaune had asked her for help in training. She smiled softly to herself knowing that this was the start of something she was going to enjoy every moment of.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Qrow Branwen stood in front of Ozpin's desk, as the man himself looked out the window, sipping from his ever present cup, as Qrow himself drank from his own flask.

"So when are you going to tell Jimmy about meeting with the Arc's?" Ozpin turned around and walked back to his desk only to set his cup down.

"Ironwood and his students will be here soon when the Vytal Festival preparations start, I'll tell him when he gets here."

"Boy is he going to be upset when he hears about this."

"His personal concern as the General of Atlas isn't mine, mine is far more concerned for the big picture, and our lead with the White Fang has led us to a startling discovery that could well turn for the worse." Qrow snorted at how Ozpin always seems to make understatements to things like this.

"So what? You think the White Fang are after their own agenda?" Ozpin walked back to the windows to look out at his school, the innocent youth, and the ignorant masses, all one and the same.

"The White Fang are no doubt working for her, but they're still ultimately pursuing their own agenda and no doubt will try and double cross her when they think the time is right, but why bring these creatures here is something I don't understand, do they believe they can control them to bolster their own force, or was it something she sent them to do?"

"I think it be an even bigger problem if someone like Jimmy tried to do it."

"What makes you think he'll do it? James is more inclined to trust machine than man, plus he's not one to stray out into the unknown without a promised return." Qrow shrugged at that, and walked back to the elevator before he stopped to look at Ozpin once more.

"Say Oz, I think we should not call them creatures."

"You mean we should call them, what Sanian Arc told us?"

"Yea, I think denying what they are will only give us a false sense of protection in the long run and that's going to get someone killed." Qrow said as he stepped in the elevator, as soon as the door closed Ozpin took a deep breath and held it for a second before letting it go, uttering one word.

"Daemon."

* * *

 **3 Weeks Later…**

Jaune for the thirteenth time that night fell on the floor, his sword clattering away from his grasps and the red and bronze tip of Miló appeared at his throat, with a sigh he rested his head against the ground.

"I yield." The tip disappeared and the smiling face of Pyrrha came into view, she held out her hand and he took it, he could feel how sweaty his hand was in comparison to Pyrrha's, hers being soft yet unyielding with no trace of exertion. While his was damp and sore from trying to ward off the blows from Pyrrha, it obviously didn't go so well.

"I think that's it for tonight Pyrrha." Jaune said as he stretched his back, the pops and cracks of his back giving the brief sensation of relief, Pyrrha frowned slightly.

"Jaune their okay for things to be like this, sure you lost but you have already made head way on the fundamentals, sparring is going to be a challenge because you can't expect your opponent to do a step by step process." Jaune rolled his eyes in exasperation, his hands going up to brush his hair back slightly.

"I know Pyrrha, I really do but it's annoying to see that I still can't win a fight even against Cardin I struggle to keep up." Which is entirely true Pyrrha noted, however she did keep it to herself, she didn't want to break him down in that sense. She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, something she'd do in her best way to comfort him, she would rather have given him a hug but that was something that she was always too nervous to do.

"Jaune do you trust me?"

"Yes, I'll always trust you Pyrrha." Within a second Jaune responded to her question and she nearly forgot what she was going to say, whenever he got serious and looked at someone it always felt like he was putting his entire attention on them.

"Jaune I'm telling you, you're going to become better before you know it so please don't be upset, I understand that only seeing a little sign of progress can be upsetting but before you know it you're going to be making leaps and bounds." Jaune smiled slightly, she was always doing this, trying to cheer, or help him, whenever he went out she'd tried to come with him, it was nice.

"Thanks Pyr, let's head inside now though its cold out." Jaune said as he turned around to pick up Crocea Mors and sheathe it, he missed Pyrrha's face turning as red as her hair, Pyrrha was having a quick mental breakdown.

"Are you coming?" She looked up to see Jaune watching her, confused on why she was still standing in place, she nodded and followed him. They walked silently down the hall, it was late and the weekend started tomorrow, along with that the Vytal Festival was coming to Vale so most students were planning to head down to the city to hangout and shop. As they got closer to their room, Pyrrha was thinking now would be the good time to try and ask Jaune if he wanted to come and hangout with her in Vale during the weekend, by themselves. However the moment they got outside their door, the team RWBY's door flung open and the young reaper the team was named after popped out.

"Hey Jaune!" He turned as he unlocked their door, and smiled, he held the door open for Pyrrha who smiled and thanked him, both angry and sad that her moment was interrupted by Ruby.

"What's up Ruby?' She walked out, her hands clasped behind her back and bounced on the tips of her toes.

"Say Jaune you wanna go to Vale with me tomorrow?" Multiple thuds could be heard in both rooms; he thought about it for a second and then nodded.

"Yea sure Ruby I'd love to come," She smiled joy filled her heart but sadly Jaune killed it a second later.

"Let me ask my team if they're cool with it."

"Huh?" Jaune opened the door once more and looked inside, Pyrrha was sitting ramrod straight on her bed, and apparently she hadn't gone to shower yet, strange. Nora was actually standing on a chair her arms raised in victory of some sort, he wasn't sure why, he just didn't question it.

"Hey guys, team RWBY wants to know if we'd want to go to Vale with them tomorrow to hangout." Nora got off the chair, and rushed over, grasping Jaune's hands the strength of her grip was painful but he knew it was out of excitement.

"Fearless Leader! We can go to that Pancake House that has the stuffed animal machine near the Pier right?! REN! Go to the Queens coffers we must make ready for the trip!" Ren glowered slightly at Jaune, when Nora spoke of coffers she really means his money because the last time she had access to large amount of money, a shipment of a hundred sloth plushies appeared in their room. Pyrrha on the other hand was annoyed that Ruby had taken away her opportunity to go on a trip of her own with Jaune, so she just sat there staring at the short girl as the girl walked backwards to her own door, she was eying Pyrrha back as well.

"Well it's settled than we're going to Vale tomorrow, so let's get ready for bed, Pyrrha you can have the first shower." Jaune motioned to the bathroom door as he rummaged through his belonging for a shirt and pair of short to wear to bed; he just knew that tomorrow was going to be fun.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

"Pyrrha, I need you to do me a favor."

"Yes Jaune?"

"Kill me." At that, Pyrrha who had been sitting next to Jaune rubbing his back softly in attempt to ease the burden of motion sickness laughed and so did everyone else in the ship, except Blake who was reading and of course Weiss. Everyone was dressed in their normal outfits; the only things missing were their weapons.

"Arc, please give us a warning if you're gonna hurl, I rather not get covered by your vomit." Weiss said as she took the farthest seat from him, Yang grinned at this.

"So what do you want to be covered in?" She said with a cheeky grin, Blake slapped her arm.

Thankfully Jaune didn't throw up and the moment the airship landed he bolted out of the ship and kissed the ground crying how he'd never leave it again. Ren and Nora picked him off the ground; Pyrrha took that as an excuse to touch him by feigning concern over dirty clothes by patting him down. Ruby jumped in and patted Jaune's back and grabbed his arm, pulling away from the rest, Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Ren followed behind.

Pyrrha stood there looking at her hands, the feeling of warmth still on them from touching Jaune, she already missed the feeling yet even now she felt in a sense she was losing. She didn't know how Jaune felt about her or Ruby but what were the chances of him becoming aware, if he did who would he go after? She didn't get any farther in her thoughts when she noticed Ren standing in front of her.

"Yes Ren?"

"When are you going to tell him?" This threw Pyrrha for a loop, did he know, and if he knew, did Jaune know?

"W-w-what are you talking about Ren!?" She stuttered, cursing herself silently at giving it away so soon.

"Pyrrha both me and Nora have known for a while, even Yang, Blake and Weiss know." Now Pyrrha understood why Jaune said he wanted to jump out a window when his aunt was visiting, she could feel her cheeks burning.

"I can't, he doesn't like me in that way and even than I'm sure he likes Ruby more than me."

"How do you know?"

"What do you mean; it's so clear whenever he's with Ruby that he's happy to be around her." Ren held up his hand to keep Pyrrha from going on a rant. He gestured down the path that the rest had taken so that they could talk and catch up.

"Look Pyrrha you're my friend and Jaune is my friend so I'm going to look after him as much as I can and help you, I think Jaune enjoys all of our company, and we enjoy his company, even Weiss after he stopped trying to ask her out so much." Which Pyrrha was thankful for, Jaune had pursued Weiss for the last three months but he eventually gave up, afterwards Weiss had become friendlier towards him.

"So I think it would be best that you start to be more open about your feelings, how Jaune acts around Ruby is no different than the way he acts around the rest of us." With that they finally caught up with the rest of the group.

"Jeez Cereal Girl take any longer there we're gonna graduate before we get to the pier." Yang complained

"I'm sorry" Yang threw her hands up defeat and wrapped an arm around Pyrrha.

"Oh Pyrrha you're too kind to be mad at you know that?" Pyrrha smiled at that and shook her head.

"I'm sorry Yang." Yang just placed a hand over her eyes, and the group chatted amongst itself, Weiss was going on about the Vytal festival and what not but Jaune couldn't help but notice Pyrrha seemed to be keeping to herself mostly. So he slowed down till he was walking next to her.

"Lien for your thoughts?" She didn't respond seemingly lost in thought as she continued to walk, unconsciously being able to maneuver around objects or people. He poked her side with his elbow, and jumped a little at the contact.

"Oh! I'm sorry Jaune did you need something?" She looked up at him, a small smile on her lips, he smiled back.

"Pyrrha you've been awfully quiet, I was just wondering if there's any wrong, and if there is how can I help?"

"It's nothing Jaune, I was just thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Uh…..next week's training schedule?" Jaune laughed a little at that, Nora and Ren looked back at them and back at each other, Nora elbowed Ren with a knowing smile. Jaune stopped and gentle grabbed Pyrrha's elbow to face her towards him.

"Pyrrha you're my partner and friend you can tell me anything, I'm serious, I'm all ears." Pyrrha took a deep breath and exhaled. This was going to be the moment she knew it; she was going to ask him out for a night on the town right there.

"Jaune would you like to go on a d-ah!" Pyrrha was never able to finish her question as a blonde hair boy with an open collared shirt and nothing on underneath ran past them, bumping into Pyrrha's back, what was more noticeable was the long tail. Teams RWBY were apparently following him and they ran past yelling their goodbyes.

"Well that was something." Ren was the first to break the silence, Nora and Jaune nodded in agreement, Pyrrha however was enjoying the warmness of Jaune's embrace, he had caught her and now was holding her close to him with his arms around her shoulders, Jaune looked down at her red face.

"You okay Pyrrha?" She nodded slightly, with that she straightened up and brushed some loose hair from the front of her face.

"Well that was something, why do you think he was running?" She asked Jaune shrugged before turning around and walking away.

"Doesn't matter, they went after them though I doubt he did it to be mean or anything so if team RWBY wants to go chase him, more power to them, however I'm hungry for pancakes so I say we go on ahead with the plan." He said with smile as he turn to regard his team, Nora jumped in the air shouting how he was the best leader, Ren just stood there with the forlorn look of bankruptcy, Pyrrha just giggled softly and followed her partner.

* * *

 **Several Hours Later…**

There was stilling yelling coming from across the hall, Nora and Pyrrha both stood by team JNPR's door looking concerned about the affairs of their sister team. Jaune was in the shower trying to end the day on a high note as it was; Ren was calmly sitting in his bed reading once more from a little red book.

"Do you think we should go and check on them?" Pyrrha asked, concern written all over her face as she looked back and forth between Nora and Ren. Nora looked almost as distraught as Pyrrha, though she didn't say anything, at that moment Jaune walked out of the bathroom in a pair of yellow shorts and a white shirt, his towel draped over his shoulders and hair still slightly damp.

"Jaune Jaune, you should go across and check on them, you're the Fearless Leader." Nora said as soon as she saw him, Jaune shook his head.

"I don't want to stick my nose into something that isn't our business, if anyone from team RWBY comes to us for help, I'll gladly do what I can."

"Jaune!" Pyrrha gasps, slightly disappointed that he wasn't gonna go over, though it was clear as day to see that he felt hurt to hear his friends getting mad at each other. Pyrrha looked at Nora and both gave a subconscious nod of agreement and went over to Jaune and gave them their best puppy dog look.

Jaune tried his best to defeat the cute looks that both Pyrrha and Nora were sending him, he really did, however his brotherly instincts kicked in. So he turned to both of them, the look of defeat clear on his face and both stood up, Pyrrha held the door open for him.

"I don't want you guys to follow, obviously this is something that is important and I don't want to give the impression that we're making a spectacle of it." He said as he stood before their door, the solemn look he had been enough to convince them to do as he says.

Jaune stepped into the hallway, closing the door softly behind him, just as he was about to knock the door flung open and out came Blake Belladonna who crashed into him, both falling to the floor. Blake however being the more agile person was able to get free of Jaune and run down the hall away from them.

"Blake! Come Back!" Ruby yelled from inside their room, Jaune sat up on the floor, rubbing the back of his head, it was only then when Blake crashed into him that he noticed that she eyes were amber, kind of like a cat.

"Jaune?" Came a soft voice from above him, and he looked up to see the silver eyes of Ruby, for a second he was wondering why he was noticing everyone's eye's.

"What's up Ruby?"

"Why are you here?"

"Oh, well I was just gonna come and see if there was any way I could help." Ruby smiled at that, she could feel her face heat up slightly at that.

"Thanks Jaune but I think we should be able to handle this, but thanks for your offer."

"Sure no problem Ruby, you can come ask me for help anytime." Jaune said as he stood up and turned back towards his dorm room, he looked over his shoulder at Ruby who was still watching him. Behind her he could see Yang with her hands on her hips with a frown on her face talking to Weiss who looked like she was in shock.

Jaune wasn't sure what was going on but if Yang was the one lecturing Weiss then things must be getting serious, he looked down at Ruby once more. She smiled and waved goodbye to him and closed the door though he could see that she was upset, and that made him slightly upset also, as he went back into the dorm room, Pyrrha was right by his side.

"So what's going on?"

"I'm not sure, Blake ran out of the room knocking me over and everyone looked really serious." Pyrrha hummed softly, before stepping away to sit on her bed. Jaune stood at the foot of his, a hand on his chin trying to think about what the issue was.

"What did you ask them?" Came the quiet voice of Lie Ren, he was laying straight as a rod on his bed with his hands at his side, his eye's still closed.

"I asked Ruby if there was anything I can do to help them, but she told me they were handling it for now and I said that if they need my help with anything I'll be there."

"There you have it, Jaune you've offered your help and they haven't ask for it so I suggest for the time being to let it go until they come to you." Jaune sighed and scratched the back of his head, he knew Ren was right there was no pointing worrying if they didn't ask for help, but he didn't want to do nothing. Ren opened his eyes and sat up as if sensing his leader's distress.

"Jaune seriously, you don't have to worry so much, I understand how you're worried, they're our friends but you have to be patient for them to approach you first, if you try going in to help solve the problem it makes it look like you think they're not capable of handling their team themselves." Jaune sighed again and ran his hands through his hair, and finally set down on his bed.

"Damn it Ren why do you have to make sense, why can't you be like the rest of us and have irrational moments also." Pyrrha giggled softly at that as she sat between them, Nora who thankfully had gone to bed was asleep like a rock so no one paid attention to her at the moment.

"I have my moments also Jaune; I just don't show it like you do." Jaune raised an eyebrow at that as Pyrrha laughed once more softly to herself, before chiming in on the conversation.

"Jaune he's saying you tend to be very open whenever you're feeling one particular emotion, whether its sadness, joy, or worry it's quite easy to see on your face." Jaune scratched his cheek with one finger trying to think of a good response but in the end he just shrugged and got under his bed sheets.

"Anyways I think we should go to sleep now, might as well get some rest after an eventful day." To this both teens nodded, Ren went back to his peculiar way of sleeping, while Pyrrha curled up under her blankets facing Jaune.

What she hadn't said earlier was how she liked that he wore his heart on his sleeve; it made him an honest person and easy to read. It made her feel that she was getting closer to him due to that open nature. She on the other hand was more adept at hiding how she felt, as a celebrity she always had to keep up appearances for both her family and the public even when she was upset. Jaune was the opposite of her; he could be open and honest and was someone who she felt that she would want to be open and honest with also. So Pyrrha laid there warm under her covers looking at the serene face of Jaune, a stray strand of blond hair falling over one eye and his mouth slightly open as he slept, and over the course of ten minutes she slowly fell asleep the last thing she saw was him.

Across the room Ruby tossed and turned slightly both over concern for her friend Blake who had yet to return and a certain boy across the hall. Even though he didn't need to worry about an internal issue of another team he still came over and despite Ruby refusing his offer, he still told her that she could come to him for anything. Jaune Arc was a wonderful person and she liked him for his dorky quirks and all. She thought of his wonderful easygoing smile, his beautiful blue eyes and his radiant blond hair. As she drifted to sleep in the late hours of the night, behind the mental sea of turmoil for Blake was the light that was Jaune Arc.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Jaune sat in the Library studying for his Leadership class, the assignment was if he was in command of five teams of four Hunters in defense of a large town against a horde of Grimm what would he do. It was a little difficult in the concept that the assignment didn't give the parameters of how long they needed to hold out or the amount of supplies they have such as, food, water, medical supplies, buildings supplies, Dust for Dust based weapons such as Weiss rapier Myrtenaster, or ammunition dependent like Yang's Ember Celica.

So he figured that if there was no set parameter to what he needs, how much, and how long. He decided to just do three different scenarios of a horde siege that would last five days, the horde size would range from five to nine thousand and various types of Grimm and how he would go about to best kill them that would cost the least amount supplies and possible damage to the city and fortifications. He also took into account the possibility, of a breakthrough on the best routes he could think of to mitigate both civilian and Hunter loses, along with the best way to disperse his forces with injuries or deaths.

At that Jaune paused, a death on a team, Jaune wasn't sure how he would actually be able to handle that let alone anyone else. If someone from team RWBY died on a mission with him he would be devastated, if someone on his team died he'd most likely shut down. If Pyrrha died, he was fairly certain that he'd stop being a Hunter altogether.

It wasn't even an hour later when his scroll started to vibrate loudly on the table as he was double checking his assignment. He picked it up and saw that it was Ruby calling him, so he quickly gathered his things together and left the library, and pressed the answer button.

"Yes Ruby?"

"Jaune can you come with us to help look for Blake, she never came back."

"Yea sure I'm free at the moment."

"Great! Meet me at the Bullheads." Ruby ended the call, and Jaune stared at his scroll wondering if he should call the rest of his team together, but opted not to bug them. After dropping off his school stuff at his dorm, he changed into his normal attire and armor, picking up Crocea Mors on the way and headed out to meet up with Ruby and the rest of her team.

"Hey Vomit Boy!" Yang called out loudly, a few people turning to look back and forth between him and them.

"Gaaaah! Yang!? Come on, when are you gonna drop that name?" Jaune asked a cloud of despair hanging over his head, Yang just smiled back impishly.

"The day you drop someone in a fight Vomit Boy is the day I'll drop the name."

"Really?"

"Nah I'm still gonna call you Vomit Boy." Yang said as they climbed onto the Bullhead, Jaune electing to sit as far as he could just in case he wasn't able to stop himself. Strangely enough Ruby wanted to sit next to him anyway; both Jaune and Yang gave her looks. One was wondering if she had a thing for vomit and the other was wondering if this weekend was gonna be the time that more than a few emotions are expressed. Jaune however had to push aside his thought and focused on not trying to throw up, and after the landing the search for Blake was on.

* * *

 **Five Hours Later…**

Jaune and Ruby were both walking down a street; the day's events haven't been very cheering. Though Ruby seemed slightly annoyed that she ran into her friend, Jaune frowned slightly trying to remember, Penny, as yea that was it. She seemed nice, strange but overall nice, and as his mother always said. Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.

"So friends, where are we going?" The newest addition of their group asked as she leaned forward.

"Again Penny, we're going to find my teammate Blake." Ruby said as she looked up at the sky wishing that Penny would leave them alone so she could be one on one with Jaune.

"She's your friend?"

"Well that's sort of up in the air right now."

"Oh? Why?"

"Well, it turns out she may not be who we thought she was." Penny gasped at this the look of surprise plain on her face.

"Is she a man!?" Jaune did a double take at that, and Ruby waved her hands frantically.

"No, no, no! She's not a man." Penny visibly relaxed at that, then tilted her head and looked at Jaune.

"Do you think that Blake being a Faunus is really surprising?" Jaune shook his head and looked sadly at the sky once more, it was getting dark out.

"No but I'm not surprised that she did hide the fact that she was a Faunus from the rest of her team and I don't blame her." Ruby swung her head around so fast Jaune thought she might break it.

"We would never treat Blake any differently, she's our friend and we love her!"

"But does she know that? She lied and because of her…uh…colored past things aren't so simple, from what I can tell she didn't leave that stuff behind until recently and the things they've done aren't for the light hearted, didn't you hear about that town in southern Vacuo, I think it was called Gellar, more than a thousand people lived there and the Vacuo army had found them all dead, it wasn't a Grimm attack, it was clearly them and that was last month, imagine finding out the organization that you think is out for peace is doing the opposite." Jaune stopped as he saw the hurt expression on Ruby's face, and placed both of his hands on her shoulders.

"Ruby, look I know you're a good person and wouldn't judge someone just for being a Faunus, but others have and she was just scared about what would happen if by some chance you did judge her, she'd be crushed." Ruby sniffed a little and rubbed at her eyes, Penny placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"What about you Jaune? Do you not like Faunus?" Ruby asked as she calmed down a little.

"Of course I do, in fact I can empathize with them a lot, back in the town I lived in, well it wasn't a big town so maybe a village is a better thing to call it, but anyways I got bullied a lot and I always saw Faunus kids getting bullied so we kind of just started hanging out so I guess till Beacon I had more Faunus friends than I did human, not only that but the Arc Family in general hates racism of that sort, you remember Blake getting excited to hear about my mom?"

"Oh yea, her name was Saint Arabella the Liberator right?" Penny flung her head in Jaune's direction at this and took hold of his hands.

"Your mother is THE Saint Arabella the Liberator!? The one that not only invaded Mantle but broke out with thousands of newly freed slaves that were both sick and injured, and made it out with the only casualties of battle being the regiment that she brought in and even than she made it out with more than half of them alive!?" Jaune just shook his head at that, the sudden outburst of emotion catching him off guard.

"So you don't hate those that are different?" She asked as she let go of his hands, and looked down at her shoes as she stood there.

"Doesn't matter who or what you are, if you are a good person than you're good in my books." He said as he smiled softly, Ruby smiled as he said that leave it to Jaune to be such an amazing guy. Penny looked at Jaune and took in everything she saw a tall teenage boy and she realized that not only was he a nice, open minded guy but handsome as well.

"Jaune?" He looked Penny in the eyes and noticed how it seemed like her green eyes were zeroed in on him, and he blushed at that scrutiny of the girl.

"Yes Penny?"

"Will you be my friend?" He could see Ruby waving her arms in the back as if to tell him no, but surely there was no reason to deny her.

"Sure Penny, I would love to be your friend." Penny seemed to brighten at that, literally and raised her arms in the air.

"SENSATIONAL! My first Boyfriend!" She called out, a few people passing bye turned at that declaration, and one of them even started to clap yelling congratulations. Ruby could feel her eye twitch violently at that. Jaune flushed a crimson color and his mind went blank at what she said.

However the mood was killed when a muffled boom occurred in the west, both Jaune and Ruby looked up to see what looked to be a black cloud rise up. Jaune's hand immediately went to the handle of his sword, out of everyone that set out in the morning, he and Yang were the only ones that came with weapons, him because he didn't think it would be smart to leave without it and Yang cause hers came in an easy compact form.

"That's at the docks, Ruby you should call in your locker when we reach the outskirts of the docks, and inform your team!" Jaune snapped immediately and took out his own scroll, and started to run. He missed whatever it was that Ruby said but could hear the patter of shoes behind him. He looked down quickly at his own scroll and started to get a group call going with his team; as soon as the call connected to all of their scrolls he heard them.

"Yes Fearless leader?" Came the normally cheerful voice of Nora, Pyrrha answered next.

"Is there something wrong Jaune? Are you running?"

"No time for that, I think we found Blake but there looks like trouble at the docks, Ren, Nora I need you to get here as quick as you can, Pyrrha I want you to go and inform Professor Goodwitch, something tells me we're gonna need a professional." Pyrrha started to argue.

"NO! I need you to do this Pyrrha, please!" He yelled as he turned a corner, knocking over a man in a suit, and yelled at Jaune but he ignored him.

"I understand Jaune…" He could hear how sad she was.

"Thanks Pyr, you're the best." Jaune felt a warm sensation spread from his chest throughout his body, he figured it must have been his aura doing its best to keep him refreshed as he ran through the streets, Ruby easily pulled ahead of him and Penny was next to him. Ren spoke up next; the sound of engines coming to life could be heard in the background.

"Jaune we've just reached the Bullheads and will probably be there in around ten minutes." Jaune and the others started to slow down as they reached the outlying warehouses. Jaune looked at Ruby and Penny, pointing at a ladder access way on the side of the first warehouse. The sound of a rocket could be heard and a dozen feet away from them a locker crashed into the ground embedding itself, Ruby popped it open and took out Crescent Rose.

"Okay Ren I'll see you here, make sure not to drop right on any fighting, access the situation when you get here and act accordingly, I don't want anyone getting hurt." Jaune ended the call and immediately started to climb the ladder, after Penny and Ruby who had gone up before him. As Jaune climbed up he saw that Ruby and Penny were already making their way over to the other end of the row of warehouses, jogging he could hear the Ruby was calling out to whoever that was on the ground ahead.

He saw the notorious Roman Torchwick with Blake at his feet and in the back he could see the same blond hair monkey Faunus yesterday also on the ground. As Ruby looked away to address a question that Penny asked Jaune saw the criminal raise his cane and point it at Ruby, his instincts screamed out at him and he took out his sword and shield and jumped in front of Ruby as a fiery round was shot at her. The impact on his shield made his arm numb and sent him flying into Ruby knocking them both a dozen feet back.

Penny saw both of them get hit in a puff of smoke and fire, she turned to regard the criminal, the White Fang soldiers who were fighting a blond monkey Faunus and the two Bullheads. She crouched as she got ready to jump, and she grinned slightly.

"Penny no!" Her first friend Ruby called out, and she turned to regard both her and the handsome blond with her as they both started to get up.

"Don't worry Ruby, I'm combat ready!" With that she jumped down and in a move that both surprised Ruby and Jaune but everyone else, swords started to float above her.

"Whoa" Jaune said as he watched Penny send the swords hurtling towards the White Fang grunts, bashing into their skulls or torsos cutting long lines across their chest or breaking bones. Jaune watched as she ruthlessly beat her way through a crowd of the White Fang grunts that had jumped off the reinforcing Bullheads. Penny suddenly flew back thirty meters to avoid automatic fire coming from the aircraft; her swords came back towards her and started to spin in a circle with the blade tips pointing outwards.

Jaune watched as a green glow started to form in the middle of the circle, the blades started to spin faster and faster, with it the glow got more intense until Penny gave a hard thrust forward. A giant beam of energy shot out and sliced two of the three Bullheads, Jaune could see that anyone inside that were caught in the beams had been sliced into pieces.

Roman took that as the clue that his operation was botched and that he needed to get out of there as fast as he could. He fired a few shots at the kitty cat and her dumb monkey friend but they moved out of the way and took cover behind another shipping container. The last Bullhead touched down and a few of the White Fang members in there shot at the strange orange hair girl that apparently shot lasers.

"They just keep getting weirder." He said aloud as he closed the hatch and the Bullhead started to fly out to the ocean. Jaune and Ruby made their way down from the roof; it was at that moment that local law enforcement had started to arrive, the flashing blue and red lights illuminating the docks.

"Fearless Leader!" Came the loud voice of Nora Valkyrie as she ran in, Magnhild was in her hands in its grenade launcher form. Ren was behind her, breathing slightly at the effort of always having to keep up with the energetic girl.

"I see the situation has already been resolved, was anyone hurt?" Ren asked as he put his own weapons, StormFlower, away.

"I mean if you don't count broken bones, lacerations and a dozen or so bisected bodies from the two Bullheads that Penny shot with her laser semblance or something, than yea, we're good….oh wait Blake and the guy she was with, Sam Wang something, got beat up pretty badly by Torchwick." Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head with his right arm, his left forearm and hand still felt pretty numb from taking that hit from before.

"Jaune!" Came a familiar feminine voice from behind, and he turned just in time to get a pair of incredible strong yet slender arms wrapped around him crushing his chest.

"Jaune I was so worried!" Pyrrha hugged Jaune as hard as she could burying her face into his chest, she really had been worried, after she got Goodwitch to come with her she couldn't help but fidget on the flight about what would happen if he had gotten hurt.

"Uh Pyrrha?" She turned to look at Ren, a ghost of an amused smile on his face; Nora in the background was red in the face from not laughing. Ren pointed above her and she looked up at Jaune who had the face of a man about to die.

"I think you're crushing him Pyrrha." She realized her arms were still locked around his chest and she let go with an "eep," Jaune gave a breath of relief at the release of her death hold on him. He looked at Pyrrha she had her arms crossed and looked away from Jaune, he knew she was both upset and worried there was a shimmering around her eyes.

"Hey Pyr, I know you're upset but I needed to send you to get Goodwitch, if I had sent Ren or Nora I would have to send the other with them and I didn't want to bring you alone out here and get hurt trying to save us if things were going bad." Jaune said as he drew Pyrrha once more into a hug although a lot less forceful, she wrapped her arms around him once more.

"I understand Jaune but please don't put in me in a situation where I need to run away while you're in a potential dangerous situation." He smiled at that, and let go stepping back once more, as he turned to regard team RWBY who were now all together, Professor Goodwitch seemed to be lecturing them. He noticed that Penny and the blond monkey were nowhere to be seen, Professor Goodwitch beckoned them over, and which they reluctantly came.

"Now students, you should know that it was highly irresponsible of you to interfere with this, though I commend you for trying to stop it but you could have gotten seriously hurt, now why were you all out here?" She asked her piercing gaze going over each and every one of one of them; Jaune could feel the sweat on the back of his neck freeze at her gaze.

"Well Mr. Arc I'm waiting." He panicked.

"Uh….uh….well see team RWBY had an argument and so it was like we were out looking for Blake who got mad and left and well she must have seen this and so deciding not to abandon her teammate over some silly fight Ruby had decided to come help her, and I was there too and well…well…well I didn't want to abandon them either so I called my team and had Pyrrha go and get you at the same time, though it turns out the girl we were with had like a laser or something, so yea."

"I see well I'm not going to punish you for going out of your way to help your friends Mr. Arc." At this both Nora and Jaune sagged in relief.

"But you're getting detention next weekend for rushing in blindly with an enemy you had no idea about." Jaune sighed at this, there was no escaping it, but it could have been worse.

At that moment a black car, with tinted windows pulled up and a tall woman dressed in a simple uniform of black; boots, tight breeches, and a jacket that went down to her mid thighs. Her ash-fair hair was tied into a tight bun on the back of her head, her eyes were light blue, and in them held restrained fury. They turned to her and Jaune felt his stomach drop as he recognize her.

"Who's the blithering wannabe vigilante idiot that ruined my operation?" She asked, her voice that of someone who's trying their very best not to get angry. Blake who was still feeling keyed up after the whole thing stepped out, and did her best not to flinch when the woman switched her gaze to her.

"Ruined? We stopped this robbery, so if anything you should be thanking us for doing your job for you." She said crossing her arms and staring heatedly at the woman, annoyed at the person dismissing her action of preventing a crime.

"Did you find out why they needed all that dust?"

"No…"

"Do you know why Roman is now working with the White Fang?" Blake started to look comfortable, but the lady just crossed her arms, her foot tapping slightly in a show of impatience.

"Do you know where the White Fang were planning to take all that Dust, which may I remind you some are now destroyed or damaged which now means the SDC needs to re-purpose the original containers and inform their clients that they won't be getting their shipment on time, which also means that Dust prices are bound to go up again due to the delayed supply and when the public finds out that the White Fang are getting more daring in their robbery in city limits people are going to start asking questions, when they don't get their answers or are not satisfied with the answers provided that means people will be upset and the more and more people get upset the more and more negative emotion is put forth and what thrives on negative emotion?" Ruby looked up at that, a hint of shame at their so called heroic actions no longer seeming that heroic.

"Grimm." The woman's eyes flicked towards Ruby for a second before turning back, to Blake. However a police officer, a sergeant judging by the stripes on his sleeve, came and hand a clipboard to her. She looked through it and turned the page, her lips curled slightly in annoyance once more before she gave it back to him.

"What's worse now is the containers we had marked for tracking are now useless because they were interrupted before taking them, so young lady, tell me again how a first year student like you is going to stop the White Fang and Roman Torchwick all by yourself? Good Intentions? You barely even survived an encounter with the man and even than you had the element of surprise, what's worse you dragged others into your own problem, so tell me how exactly are you more qualified to stop them?" Blake said nothing, she couldn't think of a good response because in the end this lady was right.

She only came here to prove everyone else wrong, that the White Fang she was practically born and raised in wasn't a monster that did more harm than good. She, Blake Belladonna, just had to know the truth while everyone else was wrong. Yet that those were the same reasons why she had left, the White Fang had changed and she couldn't follow it. Yet when Weiss called them murderers and thieves, she denied it saying that they were misunderstood, no they weren't, and she was just in denial. She didn't want to know that the blood, sweat, and tears that people gave for the movement were wasted.

"That's enough." Came a stern masculine voice, from behind Blake and she turned to look at Jaune Arc standing with his arms crossed, his eye narrowed and the look of wrath blazing in them.

"You do not have to berate my friend, sure she did something incredibly stupid, so stupid that it makes me just want to go and bash my head into a wall to forget about this weekend, but she did what she thought was right and sure it didn't go well but if she did it again I would back go with her again." Jaune said as he stepped closer, the lady was almost eye to eye with him but the way he was acting he could have been a foot taller. Surprisingly enough the woman's face softened, and a smile touched her lips and she hugged Jaune.

"It's so good to see you Jaune; I see you've got some of your mother's fire in you." She said laughing as she continued to hug him. Jaune smiled at that and hugged her back; he didn't see the look of envy coming from two girls behind him. Everyone save Professor Goodwitch just looked surprised at the turn of events, Yang stepped forward.

"Uhhhhh, Jaune who is this?" Jaune let go and turned to them, a sheepish smile on his face as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh? This is my Aunt Lilly." Everyone just stood there confused, while Nora called out from the back.

"How many freaking aunts do you have?!" Jaune tilted his head and cupped his chin with a hand.

"Eh, we're a big family." He said, before just shrugging. Everyone just face palmed at that and Professor Goodwitch told them all that they needed to head back to Beacon, though Blake had to go and talk to the Headmaster before she was allowed to go back to her dorm.

Pyrrha and Jaune walked behind everyone, Pyrrha was still giving him a lecture about how upset she was at that thought of not being with her team when they were going into a dangerous situation. Jaune kept walking and trying to placate her. He wasn't sure why she was so angry, she always kept saying how she was worried about him getting hurt or him getting kill. He understood that he was her partner and friend but the way she's acting is like a mother or a loved one hearing out you almost died.

He nearly stopped right there, the way she's always smiling and trying to be near him. She also had this weird habit of stopping whatever she was doing whenever he got out of the shower and walked around in shorts. She laughed at all his dumb jokes, and even stuck by him after he was a jerk about the whole Cardin and the transcript incident. Jaune never finished his train of thought when someone called out for him from behind.

"Jaune" He and Pyrrha turned to regard his aunt Lilly, she was still dressed as before but no longer seemed to be so stressed or annoyed.

"I'm sorry Ms. Nikos but I need to have a chat with my young nephew here, if you don't mind." She smiled, Pyrrha looked back and forth between Jaune and her but slowly nodded in the end, and she said her goodbyes as she walked away, occasionally stealing a glance at Jaune.

"She's a keeper Jaune, don't lose her." Jaune spluttered, as he turned to see his aunt leering at him.

"I-I-It isn't like that we're just really good friends and she's my partner!"

"Oh? You're partnering up together already? Should just start going out than." She said nonchalantly as they walked into a side corridor that led to one of the numerous gardens of Beacon.

"You know what I mean!" He said wishing he could just go to sleep or something to avoid this conversation.

"Jaune, I'm being serious, if you ever get clued in on the heart of a girl and found out she likes you, don't procrastinate, if she's a good person she'll be patient but it's still cruel to leave the embers of hope wavering in her heart of the possibility of both rejection and acceptance." He turned somber at what his aunt said, he never thought of something like that actually happening, especially after his numerous failed attempts to ask Weiss out. He figured that love was just not something in the foreseeable future, but if his aunt was telling him this then there's something that he's missing.

"Is this really all that you wanted to tell me?" It was her turn for her face to turn serious, the kind that he only saw when something dangerous was afoot, and he's seen it a lot considering her line of work.

"Jaune, you may not know this but your family has left Avalon."

"What, why would they do that?"

"The world is starting to get dangerous again."

"The world as always been dangerous, Grimm attacks are nothing new, sure the White Fang are getting a little more rowdy but it's nothing to get worried enough to move back to the homeland for." She shook her head, it's no surprise that Jaune doesn't know anything; Alexander didn't want him to learn so many secrets at such a young age.

"It's not that simple Jaune, there are things out there that are far worse than Grimm, and people who make the White Fang look like a child having a temper tantrum, you need to be careful, the Kingdom Councils are getting antsy and considering how most of them act, if they're starting to notice something off than it won't be long till whatever that's causing it makes a move, like a major shipment heist in the city." Jaune stood there trying to process the information.

"But why did my family leave Avalon, there's nothing going on there, it's reasonably defended with walls and gun emplacements and has a bunch of retired Huntsman who bolster its defenses, plus the they've got pickets set every ten miles around to warn of a Grimm Horde or bandits." Lilly sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, and sat on a nearby bench, the soft trickle of a fountain nearby almost making the place seem peaceful.

"Jaune did you hear about the Gellar Incident?"

"Of course everyone was talking about it for days, why?"

"Jaune, Sanian was there, the White Fang broke through their city defenses, killing the inhabitants and Gellar is twice the size of Avalon, not only that but this is something you need to keep secret, tell your partner or team is fine but the information I'm going to tell you must remain secret." Lilly turned to Jaune, he could feel the cold stare she was giving him and he figured she must be really serious about whatever it is she's going to tell him.

"Jaune what do you know of Daemons?" Jaune just tilted his head to the side confusion etched across his face.

"That's nothing but mystical mumbo jumbo, religion hasn't been a big thing for a long time aunt Lilly."

"This has nothing to do with that, have you heard of the Immaterium?" He nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"Then you should know that the Immaterium is the psychic dimension that mirrors our own, it's a formless mass of energy that is subject to its own laws of space and time, however due to its mirror form of our own it's bounded to us, as we are bound to it, however there's an aspect in it that you should be aware due to how it mirrors us, our thoughts and emotions can affect it in how things occur not only that but our souls also seem to go there as well, though it's still minimal in the grand scheme of things, however long before humans even existed there was once a conflict on such a scale that wrecked terrible havoc to the Immaterium, due to a war involving psychically powerful species who's reflections in the Immaterium started to started to change it for their souls ended up in there in a time of war and horror, those changes led to a change in the Immaterium to something that it would never recover from, and it subsequently led to the formation of entities in there that we now refer to as Daemons, malicious creatures that would rather flay you alive and then torture your soul in the Immaterium and what may feel like a thousand years in there would be a day here." Jaune sat there confusion etched once more on his face, Lilly however wasn't done talking.

"However it actually wasn't until mankind came into the picture that something even worse occurred, it was us with our ability to violent and terrible people that gave from to three collective entities that each embodied an aspect of life that we both hate and need, they're now known as the Ruinous Powers."

"Why are they called that?" Lilly looked at Jaune, before once more looking into the night sky.

"It's a mixture of how they act more than what they are, that we call them that."

"What are their names?" She looked sharply at him with that question and fear passed through him, not because of the anger that emitted from his aunt but the fear in her eyes.

"Jaune you must never know those names, names have power, I hope that you never have to hear them, and hope even more that they don't learn yours." Jaune stood up, he wasn't sure what to make of this, it was all too much information, and he knew that his aunt wouldn't lie to him but this was a big pill to swallow.

"Well Jaune I know you have a lot of question…" Jaune interrupted her, laughing slightly as he did.

"A few!? You better fucking believe it, I don't know what's going on this is too much." Lilly placed her hands on his cheeks and planted a kiss on his forehead to calm him down.

"Jaune you're a smart boy, I'm sure you'll be able to understand given some time and I've just gave you a lot to think about, however my time here is up, I need to get back into the field but I have three things to tell you, well more like two things and something to give." Jaune sighed and scratched the back of his head softly.

"Alright I'm listening." Lilly smiled at that, placed her hands into her jacket pockets.

"Well one is your dad is coming for the Festival, along with the senior members of the family." Jaune swore slightly at that, though Lilly stilled heard it and laughed. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a small black book.

"Read this when you have the time, it'll give you a more detailed account of the information I told you and will probably answer any questions you have better than me." Jaune nodded and took the book, tucking it under his arm. Lilly turned around started to walk away and Jaune stood there for a second before realizing that she was leaving and called out to her.

"Wait! Aunt Lilly what's the third thing!" She turned around a wicked smile on her face, Jaune instantly regretted asking.

"Oh my, I almost forgot, well here's a hint nephew for your social life, Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose are both madly in love with you." Jaune nearly dropped the book as his aunt walked away laughing. He shook his head that was another issue to deal with another date, he took hold of the book, and it had a leather cover that was both dry and smooth as he ran his hand over it.

"Interesting." He opened it and saw the small but neat handwriting filling almost all of it. He flipped through the pages, and thought to himself that whoever wrote this must have either had a lot of time on his hands or a lot to talk about. He flipped through it once more looking to see if he could find a name or something to give him a clue to who wrote it. It wasn't until he got to the last page that he found what he was looking for.

"Malcador?"

* * *

 **Oh dear the old Man is coming to Beacon? Both of his closest Friends are in love with him? Daemons coming wreck humanities anus? Sounds like a normal day to me.**

 **Oh well, though I gotta say it took me a bit to condense essentially all the fucked up shit that is the Immaterium without going off on a page long history lesson.**

 **Also now is the time when I'm gonna start thinking of pairings, as you may have guessed with what Lilly essentially said "Whoops Spoiler Alert"**

 **Anyways feel free to leave a review, comment or PM on anything you don't like or do like or a suggestion that you may have,** **molest me with your words and what not dear readers...**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It's been more than a month since the incident at the docks; the new semester was right around the corner for Jaune Arc and his friends who sat in Beacon's cafeteria room. He rested his head on the cool wood listening to Ruby go on about having the best day ever or something and saying she wasn't a crook, Jaune didn't understand where that came from.

Ever since he got that journal from his aunt he'd spend most of his free time that wasn't dedicated to studying, resting, and training with Pyrrha to read it. Whoever had written it must have lived in a time and probably world so vastly different than what he knew and not only that it's hinted that he's been alive for a long time, speaking of watching nations rise and fall.

It told of war and horror on more than just a planetary scale, whoever he was lived in a time of empires that ruled the night sky. The people of Remnant could never achieve such a feat with the state of their technology, everything was based around Dust, and all attempts to go beyond the planet have ended in failure because Dust was useless beyond this world.

However his aunt was right, the man who wrote it was indeed very knowledgeable in the Immaterium, apparently he was something that the people who lived during his time called a psyker. Though judging from the writing he put down he was once again lamenting the fate of humanity in its inability to come together. Apparently the time he had written this journal was when a bunch of warlords, big and small were running around waging wars against each other on his home world of Earth.

He fear that he would live to see his species slowly kill itself while he was unable to do anything. It changed when a new warlord appeared, no one knew who he was but apparently he lead gene enhanced warriors of immense power that ultimately would unite the warring tribes of Earth. When he spoke of meeting him, he wrote of a man who had a dream of saving his species.

So he followed that man and learned so much about him, yet the more he was told the more questions he had. Like where did he come from, how long has he really been around, and was he really human?

What he did learn made him respect him even more but also scared of what lay in the future, he knew so much and told him of the powers that dwell within the Immaterium. He knew things that no human has ever known, and knew things that no one would ever know.

He spoke of an ancient race that sounded to Jaune like soulless robots, a race of psychically powerful beings that practically were gods, another race of hulking green monster built just for war, a race of psychic creatures that had the largest empire until through their hubris somehow created a new Immaterium God that tore a permanent hole in space connecting their reality to the Immaterium. Space entities that were Gods of their reality as the Chaos Gods were in the Immaterium.

He also talked about what his lord told him about the Immaterium or the warp as it was sometimes called. Just as aunt Lilly had told him the Immaterium and their reality are both connected in a mirror lack fashion, essentially every thought or emotion from almost anything with a soul had, be it nightmares or dreams, becomes a reality in the Immaterium, it was a hellish realm that reflect everything from the darkest nightmare to the more blissfully pleasant dream.

Which also brought Jaune to what the Chaos Gods were and why man had to resist them specifically. As far as Jaune was able piece together, they were in the truest sense, a necessary evil. The man wrote seemed to label them as war, disease, lust, and change. He agreed with his lord that the gods themselves must be stopped at any cost but the ideals with them aren't the same issue.

War brought bloodshed and misery but it also brought out honor and virtue, those who kill so that others may not are warriors that do the deeds that others aren't able to or shouldn't do as it's its own form of justice. However the reason why they must fight this god was because it rejoiced in ceaseless bloodshed, its minions seeking blood and skulls of their enemy in never ending war.

Disease is the embodiment of death; it kills indiscriminately and with no warning laying low entire populations with any remorse. At the same time it washes away stagnation with decay or death, with the ending of one life, a life can start afresh. However the god that represented that was more content with just continuously spreading disease that ended life in horrific ways.

The way he describes Lust as being the youngest of the four gods is interesting, Jaune figured that this must have been the folly that came from the psychic creatures from before. The Lustful god however also seemed to be the embodiment of joy and pleasure, one cannot treasure his life or another if it can't experience emotions and take into the value of what life is worth.

He prefaces his writing about the being by saying everything with moderation, the reason that the god must be shunned is because it takes pleasure to the extreme. Its followers take joy in hording and collecting the value of objects but sooner or later. They need to take more and more stimulus to pleasure themselves until only pain and suffering can sate their endless appetite.

The last of the four was the change; is stemmed from the concept of creativity and cunning. For progress and change are neither violent or peaceful, it's one and the same, sometimes one must learn from mistakes and other times it learns by just being aware. However the being that represents it is far more interested in being a cruel and devious trickster uncaring of whom or what gets hurt so as long as it gets what it wants.

That was essentially the entirety of the journal, the last bits were about how they finally achieved uniting the factions of Terra, and now his Lord has told him his next step, which was to conquer the galaxy in order to prevent the terrors that led to Earth becoming a war torn world happening again.

He wrote how his lord was making twenty, sons, as he calls them, to help conquer and control the galaxy, though something happened. Now they must form lesser versions of them to form into armies and go out discovering, conquering or annihilating anything in their way while hoping to find his sons. Malcador had said that they dubbed it the Great Crusade.

It was the end that now added more troubles onto Jaune's mind; if the Immaterium was being used by the White Fang does that mean they're servants of the Ruinous powers? Why was there the same symbol in the book like he had seen on his father scabbard? What happened to Malcador, his master, and ultimately the Great Crusade?

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a soft hand on his shoulder and he turned his head to the side to see Pyrrha looking down at him. Worry was plainly plastered over her face, and Jaune could see also that Ruby was stealing glances at both him and Pyrrha. That brings another issue that Jaune is having, after thinking about what his aunt told him on how both Pyrrha and Ruby liked him. Jaune took special care to check Pyrrha and Ruby reaction to whenever he comes near them, both tend to smile a lot and try to be in close proximity with him.

Now sure that may not be a deciding clue to that they both like him, even than Jaune knew that if that was true that he would need to find an answer soon.

"Jaune?" He snapped out of his musing and looked at Pyrrha, her emerald green eyes looking at him with a mixture of compassion and worry. Jaune couldn't help but smile at her face, and she smiled back almost radiant but Jaune could still see that she was hiding something.

"Yea Pyr?"

"You seem really out of it, have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Yes Pyrrha, I've been getting enough sleep, yes I've eaten breakfast, and no I'm not hungry right now, sheesh." He said rapidly in anticipation to her countless inquires about his wellbeing. However she recoiled back, frowning Jaune could see that she no doubt thought that her attempts to care for him are just annoying him.

"Pyrrha I get that you're worried but I'm fine, see?" He straightened up and smiled, giving her a thumb up, before she could respond there was a wet splat. They both turned around and saw that Weiss's face was covered in the remains of a pie and so the largest food fight that Jaune ever saw took place.

* * *

 **1 Week Later…**

Today was the day that the students from other academies would come to Beacon, Jaune stood once more letting the water wash over him as he stood in the shower. Classes had been canceled for the morning ceremony that Headmaster Ozpin would have to welcome the students to his academy. It was also the day in which his Father and other members of his family would come. Jaune wasn't sure who else would be coming or whether or not they're gonna make a public appearance out of it, whatever the case Jaune would be ready to face his father again.

It was a strange feeling, Jaune knew that he father wasn't someone who got angry easily, most of the time it felt like he was really just content of being there. However Jaune had seen more than one time the look and smile he would give his mother, it was a look that spoke of devotion and love. Jaune ran away though, he defied his father's wishes to become a Huntsman and lied his way into Beacon; he knew that his aunts wouldn't turn him in, instead opting for it to be natural.

"Jaune? You might wanna hurry up the ceremony is starting soon." The voice of his only male teammate, Lie Ren came through the door.

"Yea! Sure give me a moment." He called out and turned the shower off, stepping out of the shower and dried himself off, and started to put on his underclothing, his school trousers and white shirt, however he was struggling with the red tie as he came out of the bathroom.

He looked up to see that no one else was in the room except for Pyrrha, who waited patiently in a chair by the door.

"Where are the others?" She turned to him and smiled sweetly.

"Oh? Ren and Nora left, she was feeling a bit hungry so she went to go find some pancakes at the cafeteria."

"And Ren of course had to follow her so he could keep an eye, right?" She giggled and nodded, and he smiled before frowning again, still unable to get the tie right.

"Here, let me help you." Pyrrha said as she stood up and took his hands away from the tie, and slowly began to get it together.

"You're surprisingly good at this Pyrrha." She smiled and hummed softly.

"Well my mother always told me that unless I wanted to watch my husband take twenty minutes trying to tie a tie only to give up and get mad, I should learn how to tie it for him."

"That's some strange advice, it's kind of like saying to dote on the husband isn't it?" She tilted her head as she thought about it.

"I suppose if you look at it like that but at the same time that's what marriage is isn't it? To help in any way you can whether it's a small matter like a tie or a big matter like an injury, it's being there no matter what for everything not only when something important explodes." Jaune smiled as Pyrrha talked her eyes closed as if thinking on the fly the reason why she proscribed to her mother's advice. Jaune knew either way that Pyrrha was doing this because she wanted to, it didn't matter that she learned it as a skill for a conversation of husbands.

Jaune stayed silent as he watched Pyrrha, she was humming as she finished his tie and stepped away. He took note of her pale white complexion, her red hair tied up into a pony tail that curled slight as it reached the end going down the length of her back, the green eye shadow that she applied around her eyes, and iridescent emerald green eyes that seemed to drawn him in, and even in school uniform she always wore her circlet with two bronze chains that looped down with emerald teardrop jewels.

For some reason Jaune could feel his heart beat faster as he watched her, it wasn't till he noticed that her face was turning red that he realized that he was still staring, he coughed slightly.

"Ah, yea we should head out ourselves." Jaune said as he picked up his black school blazer and walked towards the door, holding it open for Pyrrha who thanked him as she walked out. In her mind she was still reeling from the implication of him watching her. Did that mean Jaune was starting to notice her attempts at getting his attention, was that his way of showing his own interest in her?

As Jaune and Pyrrha walked down an open corridor to the main hall, Jaune would occasionally look up to see that Atlas Academy had apparently been escorted by a small battle group of their navy. Several ships, each roughly a hundred and sixty meters long and fifty meters wide, each armed with half a dozen high powered laser batteries and escorted by five lighter aircraft, it was a city killing fleet.

As Jaune continued to watch the airships occasionally turning to answer Pyrrha's questions or give a comment of his own. Pyrrha on the other hand started to trail off as she saw three black Bullheads pull up to the Beacon landing pads, there was a flash of yellow and Pyrrha's eyes widened in surprise to recognize the Arc symbol on it.

"Jaune look!" She said stopping and pointing to the three ships, students and staff form the academies started to back away and talk in a hushed tone as they saw the symbol. The atmosphere was one of curiosity and excitement as to who these people were.

The first ship opened and a column of six women covered almost entirely by black armor with golden trims on the shoulder plates, red cloth could be seen coming from their waist falling between their knees. The red cloth had the golden symbol of the Arc Family on them. They marched out, each held black boxy weapons in their hands and soon they dispersed to cover either side of the ramp.

Many of the students there stared in awe, armor wasn't a big deal normally, most opting to not use them cause it was heavy and made them slower. For many they relied on their aura to do the same thing but enhance them with no added weight. However most could see that the quality of these strangers armor was that of the finest grade, that even without aura it would probably provide the great protection.

What's confused more people was what kind of weapons were they holding, standard firearms worked great on people that don't have aura. However even military grade weapons still couldn't hurt an individual with aura save for hitting a target enough that their aura failed or a large caliber round found on Bullheads or ships. These weapons on the other hand were unfamiliar to all of them standing there, so their capabilities were unknown so all they can assume was they must be effect if they're being used.

Jaune and Pyrrha both started to get closer; Jaune knew that his father would be aboard the Bullheads, he wanted to see him, not in the role as his father but as a member of the Arc Family.

The next set of people to leave was five men and women dressed in black and grey military fatigues, they had black chest plates and shoulder pads, each had bandoliers wrapped around their waists. All of them wore black gloves that extend out from underneath, hard shell forearm pads, which covered the length of their wrists to their elbows.

Similar pads covered their knees down to the top of their boots; sidearm holsters could be seen on their thighs, and full face helmets with what appeared to be a breathing apparatus around their mouths and tinted glass. Each one also carried a unique rifle that once more no one except for Jaune had seen before; he saw in the corner of his eye Pyrrha frowning in confusion.

"What are those?" She referred to the long slim barreled that was green underneath and a fixed green stock, she looked at Jaune who was just scratching the back of his head.

"Oh those? If I recall correctly they're call it a Agripinaa mark 1, it's a high powered rife that fires a 8.25 millimeter round with a muzzle velocity of eight hundred meters per second, weighs about seven kilograms and is the standard issue rifle that the Arc's give to their men and women to use, though nowhere near as strong as the boltguns the Sisterhood or my family use." He pointed back at the six women in armor standing to the side.

"Sisterhood? Boltguns? You so owe me an explanation after this." Pyrrha said as she tilted her head a little as she watched the five men and women step off the ramp and stand at attention facing towards the school. After them were two people, a man and a women, both wore black double breasted trench coats, over black trousers with polished black dress shoes.

The man was roughly six foot, three inches, had short cropped black hair, and had a rather handsome face, with light blue eyes, but to Pyrrha they had a haunted look in them. The woman roughly five foot six, tanned skin, brown hair tied up into a bun behind her head. Her brown eyes had the tired look that one would associate with a person that continuously doesn't get the right amount of sleep on a daily basis. She also had two long scars that reached up from above her left eye down to her chin cutting across her lips making the top lip curl up slightly.

"Huh so they picked Harkon and Sharben to represent the intelligence agency." Jaune mused aloud, once more causing Pyrrha to just switch back and forth confused between Jaune and the people by the Bullhead.

After them came once more two more people, both dressed similarly to the soldiers. The first was a woman that was a flat six foot, with red hair tied back into a pony tail. The person next to her seemed to be a man, but he apparently had a black full face encompassing helmet so his features were hidden, both held Agripinaa rifles. Jaune smiled as he recognized them, and Pyrrha felt slightly annoyed that Jaune wasn't explaining anything.

As they took up position next to the soldiers, the last occupants of the Bullhead walked down the ramp. The first he saw was his Aunt Sanian; she was dressed for battle, her normally sleek golden armor was dulled by dirt and riveted in dents and scratches yet she still looked as regal as ever. The students around him immediately started to talk amongst themselves, some noted the battle damage, others her beauty.

The next one to emerge was a giant at roughly eight feet tall in a full suit of armor; it was painted purple with golden trims. A golden two headed eagle pointing left and right on his chest shone brightly in the sunlight, on his right pauldron was the golden symbol of the Arc Family, on the left the same eagle as on his chest but three lines appeared above them. On the left of his waist was a long sword of incredible size; and on his right thigh was a smaller version of the weapons that the women carried.

"Saul?" Jaune said and Pyrrha looked at Jaune to see that even he had a look of confusion on his face. Pyrrha looked back out at the giant and also noticed that the chatter amongst the people has seemed to die away at the sight of him only to break once more in excitement at this individual. Pyrrha also noticed that he didn't wear any helmet and was looking at her and Jaune; he had a patrician face though lined by age, with neck long grey hair tied back. She noticed that there was a deep sadness in his eyes, as if afflicted by a pain that would never go away.

However the last person to step down the ramp was someone who even took the breath away from Pyrrha for a moment. He was dressed in golden armor covering his chest, pauldrons placed over his shoulders and vambraces that extend from his elbow down to his wrist, his hands wore gauntlets that seemed attached to the vambraces. A red cloak flowed from his waist covering his legs but Pyrrha could see that his legs were also covered in similar golden armor. He had a long glaive held in his right hand; the metal of the pole was black reaching above his head that ended in long sharp silver blade tinged blue by some sort of energy.

Pyrrha could see that it was a well-crafted weapon, but what really drew her interest was his face, though his mouth was covered by a gorget, she could still see his blond hair and blue eyes so much like Jaune's. She realized that the person she was looking at was Jaune's father and turned to face Jaune once more but he was no longer there.

"Jaune!?" She called out, a few people turned to look at her but most ignored her, as the strangers finally started to walk towards the school, coming out to meet there was Professor Goodwitch.

Pyrrha retraced her steps when she had first come out there with Jaune, as she entered the corridor, she saw Jaune leaning his face against the wall taking deep breaths.

"Jaune? Are you okay?" She asked tentatively reaching out to place her hand on his shoulder.

"It's…it's nothing, why don't you go on ahead of me." He said as he slowly brought his breathing under control.

"Jaune it doesn't seem like anything, you know those people."

"Of course I do, I've known most of them for almost my entire life, and one in particular I have known my entire life."

"You mean your father?" Jaune straighten up and looked at her, surprise evident on his face.

"How did you know?" She smiled and took Jaune by the arm and pulled him down the hall towards the direction of the auditorium room.

"It's simple; he looked like an older version of you Jaune."

"Huh, well I guess that's a good enough reason to notice that."

"Jaune, why did you leave?" Pyrrha asked suddenly, curiosity overtaking her desire to be polite about the matter.

"Straight to the point, eh? Well I guess it's because of my…circumstance of entering Beacon, I figure my dad would be mad at me for not only lying but also stealing Crocea Mors, Arcs are meant to be the symbol of righteousness, but I lied, so I guess I'm just afraid of facing him." Jaune said with a sad smile, Pyrrha could feel her heart constrict at seeing such a sad face. All she wanted to do was hold him at that moment however they had already reached the auditorium room.

"Pyrrha! Jaune! Over here!" The bombastically loud voice of Nora Valkyrie could be heard and they saw her jumping next to the ever stoic Lie Ren. Team RWBY was also standing with them, Ruby was watching Pyrrha and Jaune very closely, lately it seemed that Jaune was avoiding her, electing to spending his time either alone reading some book or with his partner. She could feel her stomach feel with butterflies as Jaune smiled brightly at her.

"Hey Ruby how are ya?"

"I'm good Jaune; you've been awfully distant as of late." She said a small pout forming on her face, her ultimate weapon against Jaune.

"Yea sorry about that Ruby, just been busy is all." He said scratching the back of his head, and looked away, cursing Ruby on the inside for her adorable face.

It was at that moment that Headmaster Ozpin took the stage, with his ever present cup of coffee; Ruby always thought of her uncle he always had his flask on him whenever she saw him. Maybe he got the habit from Ozpin since they apparently knew each other.

Which brought a small wave of melancholy, they both knew her mother when she was younger, even Yang knew because she was old enough, but all she had was the faint memory of the sensation of a warm voice and the smell of cookies. She felt a hand on her head; looking back she could see Yang was standing next to her, the look of sisterly love evident on her face.

So they all stood there and listened to Ozpin speak briefly about the Color Wars, and why they were all there. It was an interesting speech, however Jaune was more preoccupied by his scroll vibrating in his pocket, and he slipped it out. Pyrrha elbowed him slightly to get him to pay attention so he slipped it back into his pocket to look at later. However by that point Ozpin drew his speech to a close, so Jaune took his scroll out once more and read the message.

"Jaune would you like to go to the cafeteria, they're serving breakfast." Ruby said as she stepped next to Jaune and Pyrrha, but he didn't answer, Ren and Nora took note of that also, stopping to see what's going on.

"Hm? What? Food sounds nice, let's go." Jaune said as he finished reading the message and noticing everyone was looking at him. So he started walking away towards the cafeteria but no one else was following, confusion and curiosity abound between them, Jaune looked back.

"So you guys coming or what?" With that they started to move once more, conversation started to follow a while once more, they entered the cafeteria to find it a little more crowded than usual with the students from other academies there. After they all had gotten their food, they made their way to their usual table; thankfully no one else had come and taken it yet. They ate and had small chat talking about classes and what they would rather be doing but there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere that wasn't always there.

"Ah well I gotta head out, need to go talk with Doctor Oobleck about something." Jaune said, much to the surprise of everyone there. Doctor Oobleck was hard to follow in lecture but asking a student ask him a question is liable to an hour lecture on the history of geology or any other topic. Pyrrha started to gather her things but Jaune placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Actually Pyrrha, you should just stay here and hangout with everyone, I promise I won't be long." He said with a smile as Pyrrha reluctantly stop gathering her belongings. Everyone watched as he walked off, and the atmosphere dropped a little around them

"Anyone know what's going on with Jaune lately?" Yang asked, the brawler was never shy about things even when she knew that she could be walking into an emotional minefield.

"I think it was right after the incident at the docks that he started acting a bit different." Ren said as he set his utensils down, Blake shrank a little in her seat, guilty gnawing at her at another effect of her brash actions.. After her verbal lashing from Jaune's aunt, coupled with the talk that she had with Ozpin, she realized that going out on her own was a terrible ideal that did not but hurt her team.

Now she hoped to convince her team to aid her, as much as she believed the Arc's, along with the professional Huntsman and Huntress were better than her in every regard. She was a former member of that group and had the better knowledge and ability to outperform even them, not only that it was her duty to stop them, if she couldn't do it than no one else can.

"Blake?" Came a soft voice from next to her, and she looked into the lilac eyes of her partner. Despite what most people thought about the brawler, she was in fact a smart, thoughtful person. This made her dangerous to her opponents and a relief for her friends if you excluded all the awful puns she's been making about cats.

"What's up with you, you looked like you were gonna cough up a fur ball there?" She said with a small smile touching her lips, Blake buried her face in her book and sighed.

"It's nothing Yang." She said, her voice slightly muffled, Yang leaned in slightly, the mirth disappearing from her eyes.

"When you're finished with your lone kitty act, you can come to your team with anything and we'll help you." Blake could feel her hands go cold and the urge to walk away nearly made her get up but she held it down.

"Maybe later Yang, just…just give me some time." Yang smiled again but instead of her usual joy, Blake could see the pained relief inhabiting her demeanor, and they both turned back to the conversation at hand.

"I think it has to do more with who arrived this morning." Pyrrha spoke up, her face a mask of neutral to all emotion, Blake had a hard time reading her whenever she was like that, and it was probably due to the forced publicity that she had to endure with people that she got so good at it.

"What do you mean?" Chimed Ruby, everyone else focusing in on Pyrrha, who took their questioning glares like the champion she was.

"Well it seems that along with various members of the Arc Family, Jaune's own father is also occupying them." A quiet buzz emerging amongst them as the friends talked about the implications of Jaune's father arriving.

"He's probably worried about what could happen with his old man, maybe getting lectured about not living up to the family name or something?" Yang said aloud.

"No, Jaune isn't as concerned as he once was with that."

"Pyrrha's right, Jaune, while not as capable as the rest of us were in the start of the year already had a natural talent with leadership, and with our help, and by ours I mostly mean Pyrrha's tutelage, he's grown remarkably, that it won't be long till he's able to hold his own and even excel in combat class." Ren said calmly, though almost everyone missed Ruby's small eye twitch at the praise of Pyrrha for helping Jaune the most. The only two that did notice it was Yang and Pyrrha, the former was out of concern for her little sister's emotional state and the latter out of victory against her rival.

"Plus Jauney always does his best to look out for everyone and their needs, he got Ren a tea set for our room, he gives me his share of pancakes, and he's Pyrrha's partner." Nora said with her normal level of enthusiasm, Yang smirked at that.

"Oh? Say Pumpkin Pete, what is it that Jaune does specifically for you?" Pyrrha's cheeks turned a touch red and she looked away.

"He's a wonderful partner and friend, and that's all." Surprisingly enough Weiss took that as her cue to enter the conversation.

"If I'm not mistaken Pyrrha, it sounded like you're rather frustrated in more ways than one with that answer." Everyone stopped and looked at Weiss, who was casually filing away at her nails, Yang was the first to start laughing, followed by Ruby and Nora. Blake and Ren who despite also being both surprised and amused at that statement just had smiles on their faces, Pyrrha on the other hand turned as red as her hair.

"I-I-It's not like that!" She stammered out, a small well of frustration bubbled up in her stomach at Weiss commenting on it and being right about it. This just made everyone else laugh even harder at that, Ruby looked like she was going to die from laughter, after a few moments everyone started to calm down. Weiss soon turned back to her more formal nature, but the hint of curiosity crossed her face as she looked once more at the red hair champion.

"So what did they look like?"

"Who?"

"The Arcs, you said that they arrived this morning and that you saw a whole bunch of them along with Jaune's father?" Pyrrha tilted her head back and closed her eyes thinking back to the events of that morning prior to the assembly.

"They looked nothing like I expected of such a renowned family." This started to draw the group's attention to her once more.

"What do you mean?"

"Well when we read about the Arcs in all those history books, and stories we think of heroes that are out for the sake of a noble goal or ideal, to fight and protect as the heroes we see them to be. However today when I saw them I got a different feeling from them, I didn't see heroes that fight for a noble cause, I saw soldiers and warriors of conflict, not just protectors of humanity I'm sure they fight battles that none of us would ever dream of being in, but they all look like they've seen and waded through countless battlefields of bloodshed and death as if it was an everyday part of life." Weiss hummed softly to herself at this observational recounting from Pyrrha, who's normally right when it comes to these kinds of things. Well except for Jaune but Weiss knew better than to say that in front of her.

"I suppose it makes sense, back in the Great War the Arc's came out with an already well experienced army the moment they entered that could stand it's ground in any one on one fight with the Kingdoms, or even a two on one fight and probably come out better than their opponents even if they were the ones to have technically lost." Ren said as he brought his hands together and rested his chin on them; a careful calculation of this information flooded his mind as he once more sought to quench his curiosity of his team leader, and friend's family. Ruby was the next to ask a question, the desire to know more about the Arc family and by extension Jaune bringing her into the mix.

"What was his dad like?" Pyrrha glanced slightly at Ruby before closing her eyes once more.

"Well, at least he looked like the stories about him, when I saw him step off the ship, he was dressed in a what seemed to be a well-crafted golden armor, he's much bigger and taller than Jaune, though if you look at his face, more specifically his eyes, they're the same as Jaune, however the difference once again is unlike Jaune who has a warm friendly feeling in them, the kind of which that speak of devotion and love for his friends and loved ones, his father has the eyes of someone who's seen and done a lot of things that would probably give an experienced Huntsman or Huntress nightmares. He even looked like he had just gotten out of a fierce battle; I could count at least half a dozen marks of untreated damaged on his chest piece."

"I didn't realize the Commander was so popular amongst the young ones, Arabella is going to get mad when she hears this." A slight mocking voice popped up near them, and the teens turned to the new voice and before them stood a pale man slightly taller than six feet, he had jet black hair and a blue tattoo on his left temple that arched over his brow. He was dressed in plain black military fatigues the only noticeable things about his uniform was the Arc crest on his right shoulder, and a silver eagle with two heads that looked to be holding half a dozen arrows on his left.

"If you don't mind sir, but this is a private conversation, if you're looking for Jaune Arc he's gone to talk to one of our teachers." Weiss said, an icy expression overtaking her face, the kind they see whenever she's trying to be polite without getting mad. The man raised his hands in order to placate them, while smiling to show he was friendly at the same time.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off like that, I just thought I come by and check out Jaune's friends." This seemed to ease Weiss, Nora's, and Ruby but Blake spoke up.

"Why is it that you want to check us out, do you not trust us or something?"

"No, no, no I wouldn't be the one here if we thought Jaune was being treated poorly, but that being said I've known Jaune for most of his life and as a member of the Arc family I just wanted to catch up with my kin, and maybe see if the friends he speaks of are as good as he says Ms. Belladonna." He said smoothly the same friendly smile still on his face.

"How did you know her name? None of us have introduced ourselves?" Yang asked, her eyes narrowing a little at that.

"My apologies, but Jaune has kept correspondence with a number of his family and he's always so excited when he talks about his friends that he probably gave us more information than he meant too." He chuckled slightly, Pyrrha smiled at hearing that.

"So if you don't mind me asking but what is your name?" Pyrrha asked, and the man blinked before laughing again and extending his hand towards Pyrrha.

"Call me Brin please." He said as Pyrrha took his hand, she could feel callouses on his hand and she filed away in her head that he was no stranger to hard labor. Soon everyone formally introduced themselves and Brin sat at the edge of the table and smiled devilishly.

"So who wants to hear about the time we caught Jaune getting bullied by some girls in the neighborhood because they thought he was a girl dressing up like a boy?"

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Jaune sneezed loudly as he waited in the elevator of Beacon's tower, was someone talking about him? He shook his head as he refocused on the task at hand, after he had finally checked his scroll to see who was messaging him and it turned out to be Ozpin. He had wanted Jaune to come and see him as soon as possible, Jaune wasn't sure what he wanted but it probably had to do something with his family.

The elevator door opened up and Jaune was greeted with the sight of Ozpin's office. He had never been in there before and he must admit there was an astonishing amount of gears, which was kind of strange; maybe Ozpin had a thing for watches.

"Ah Mr. Arc, how nice of you to arrive." Came the voice of Headmaster Ozpin, and Jaune looked to see him standing behind his desk with a cup in his hand, next to him was Glynda Goodwitch, professor and Deputy headmaster of Beacon.

Who he didn't recognize was a well-built man who was roughly six and a half feet tall in a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie, and a white glove on his right hand. His suit pants were the same color as his overcoat and are were tucked into silver and gray boots. He had black hair with a touch of gray at the temples; he looked even older than Ozpin and had a strange white strip above his right eye along with a white glove on his right hand.

"Ah let me introduce you to the Headmaster and General of Atlas Academy and military, James Ironwood." Ozpin said as he waved a hand between them, Ironwood stepped closer to Jaune and extended his right hand and Jaune took it, the strength in it was mind-numbingly strong but Jaune gave it his all in return. Ironwood raised an eyebrow as Jaune applied his own pressure and with a smile he patted Jaune's arm.

"Good to meet you Mr. Arc, if you're ever curious about coming to Atlas I'm sure you and I could have a nice chat."

"Thank you for the offer General Ironwood but I'm happy with my team here."

"Such manners on this one Ozpin, I like him already." Ironwood said as he turned his head back to look at the Headmaster of Beacon, who just smiled politely, with that Ironwood and Glynda gave their goodbyes and entered the elevator.

"Ah Mr. Arc as it stands I too must leave to discuss some matters, trivial school stuff but please take a seat." Jaune tilted his head slightly in confusion at hearing that.

"Wait, Headmaster you're leaving? Why was I called here?" Ozpin took his cane in hand, and Jaune could have sworn he had a smile on his face but Ozpin just continued to walk towards the elevator. Soon enough Jaune was alone, and he just sat in a chair that was in front of Ozpins desk. '

"Well it seems you indeed have grown quite well in here, son." Jaune shot up from the chair nearly knocking it over but he caught it before it was too late, his heart was pounding in his chest and he could feel his hands go cold.

"H-H-Hi dad, what brings you to Beacon?" Jaune stammered he always knew that this day would come; he was going to get dragged out of Beacon for disobeying his parents and running away from home with Crocea Mors.

"What? No hug for your old man?" Alexander said with a smile on his face, his normally icy cold blue eyes filled with the warmth of a loving father.

He wasn't dressed in his armor but instead opted to wear some black dress pants and a white button up shirt, with a gray suit vest and a black tie. He cut quite an imposing figure the shirt and vest seeming to strain in attempt to contain his body.

Jaune has seen his dad shirtless a number of times and knew that despite his age, Alexander could and would put to shame any hardcore gym fanatic in both looks and strength while at the same time remain attractive to the point his mother has threatened more than one lady for approaching her husband.

"Hug?"

"Yea you know that thing where two people wrap their arms around each other as a way of greetings?" Jaune couldn't help but laugh slightly at the jovial sarcasm his dad was giving, but this isn't right he was supposed to be mad at him, wasn't he?

"Aren't you and Mom mad at me? I ran away from home and even stole Crocea Mors, and haven't written or called in nearly six months?" Alexander once again smiled and walked towards Jaune easily towering over his son and placed both of his hands on his shoulders and brought him into an embrace which he returned.

"Well to be fair your mother was very upset and was quite adamant about gathering the family and even some of the sisterhood to go and track you down."

"Crap." While his mother is most notably known for her compassion towards others like the Faunus, history however has seem to forgotten that it was her that led to the Arc Family to war. So while she may have the patience of a saint the moment she gets angry no one except for Alexander has ever stood in her path.

"Indeed but the reason the family is here isn't for that, I spent some time thinking about what you've done and I've come to terms with it and I accept your decision to attend here, and the fact that you've made it this far on your own is proof that my faith in trusting your decision wasn't wrong." Jaune smiled relief flooded into his body and it felt like a weight was taken off from his shoulders, one that he didn't even know he had.

"Wait, so you're also okay with me lying to Ozpin and faking my way into Beacon?"

"Well I admit you did what you had to in order to show that you really did have what it takes but my dear boy do not underestimate Ozpin, he's incredibly smart, he probably knew from the start that you faked your transcripts but he himself saw something that he knew would be beneficial and went out on a limb to keep you here, it seems his investment had paid off." Jaune grimaced slightly at that, while in some sense it was true that he pulled the impossible off and made his claim in the ranks of Beacon he had help.

"I didn't really do it all on my own, I in fact owe a lot of my progress to my team and friends, who've all helped me in improving faster than I could have on my own, my partner even knew my secret and still helps me improve almost daily." Alexander smiled once more as he listened to his son talk about all the things his friends and partner helped him but he couldn't help but notice how he differentiated his partner and his friends.

"So yea, I owe them all for helping me so much, Pyrrha specifically she's the best, always by my side, helping me with homework, training me almost every day, making sure I pay attention in class, giving emotional support whenever I fail at something, so she's kind, caring, incredibly humble for someone that's practically a celebrity, and overall a great person, I'm happy to be friends and partner with her."

"Jaune it sounds like there's more to that than you may think, I suspect this girl likes you in more than a friendly way." Jaune just blinked at his dad, and for a second Alexander thought his son was gonna realize how much it seems this girl likes him.

"Pfffffffffffft nice one Dad, first aunt Sanian and now you saying the same thing? Pyrrha just sees me as a good friend, why would she be interested in me." Jaune started to chuckle at such an insane suggestion, man sometimes his family can be so weird.

Alexander was mentally slamming his hand against his face, elsewhere a certain Redhead had the urge to sigh in frustration once more, and a certain mother perked up as the feeling of someone trying to steal her baby boy activated.

"Anyways Jaune, I believe that you probably have some questions after your last chat with your Aunt Lilly." Jaune nodded, he had so many questions that he need to ask about. Alexander gestured back to the chairs and he set them facing each other, they both sat in them facing each other.

"So you understand what the Immaterium is now right?"

"In a sense, there are still a lot of things that I don't think I could get my head around even if I spent the next decade thinking on it."

"That's fine, there's more than a few bits of information in that journal that wouldn't make any sense unless you met Malcador."

"So who was Malcador then?"

"In a short sense he the right hand of the Master of Mankind, and the First Lord of Earth, an incredibly smart man, gifted with tremendous powers, he not only helped mankind unite on Earth but set the foundation of one of the largest empires in all of history."

"What happened?" Alexander sighed softly at that, a brief pain eclipsed his face as Jaune asked that question.

"Remember the entities of the Immaterium? The Ruinous powers conspired against the Master of Mankind for they feared him, and so they planted seeds of treachery amongst the disheartened heart of the Master of Mankind's most favored general who not only was feeling overwhelmed with the duty of leading the Empire's numerous campaigns amongst the stars but also that he wasn't privy to all of his Lords secrets. So he turned to the Ruinous Powers and set out a civil war that nearly tore the Empire in two, not only that he gathered half the Legions and armies of the Empire against the Master of Mankind, after nearly a decade of fighting the rebels were defeated at the siege of Earth but the casualties of the conflict were high, both Malcador was killed and the Master of Mankind was crippled to the state of near death."

"So in the end the Empire endured?" Alexander shook his head, and Jaune blinked in surprise at what he said next.

"In a sense."

"What do you mean?"

"Son I need you to understand what I'm going to tell you but I was there at the siege of Earth." Jaune once more blinked, what the heck did he mean, how is that even possible?

"Jaune I was a warrior that was trained and genetically modified to be the Master of Mankind shield and sword, there are many more like me, roughly a little more than ten thousand, during the fighting, something happened, I suspect that somehow a portal was opened up and I was sucked into the Immaterium, and somehow landed on Remnant."

"That doesn't make sense; the Immaterium should have killed you right? Objects from either reality can't exist in the other without protection or a link with some power source to keep you alive."

"I don't know son, it's something I have thought about over the years yet every answer I think of makes less and less sense, but after a while I decided I must as the kids would say, go with the flow." Jaune snorted slightly at that.

"No one says that anymore old man." Alexander chuckled and slapped Jaune's knee, hard, making him wince.

"Anyways I decided to make my life here but I encountered another who didn't belong to this world like me, he was the founder of the Arc Family, we both recognized what each other were, he was someone who most of the Empire thought was lost to a tragic accident, it turned out he was here and he set about making his own mark on this world, and thus the Arc Family that the people of Remnant know was born."

"What was his name?" Alexander smiled; even now he remembered the promise he made all those years ago.

"It's a secret." Jaune felt his eye twitch in annoyance but Alexander raised his hands once more to stop Jaune.

"It's a promise he made me swear that on his death that all records of his name and description were to be erased, that his memory would die out as the years go by, for he didn't want the weight of his name to burden the future generations, and you know our motto, an Arc never goes back on his word." Jaune nodded slowly, still confused on why he would do such a thing.

"So was there anyone else after you that came from where you're from?"

"Yes in fact, most of the Arc family is from that Empire, Saul, your mother, Sanian, Brin, Lilly, just to name a few but their stories are their own to tell." Jaune nodded at this, it was a lot to take in but at the same time this would probably be the only time he'd ever get to ask these questions.

"We still have some time before I need to go again." So Jaune thought for a moment of one of the many questions that filled his head and looked up at his dad.

"What about me and the rest family, you said that you were genetically modified what does that mean for us?" Jaune asked.

"Well in a sense yes, except for Nessa all of you are in a sense, I guess the right word would be more special than others, even aura enhanced people."

"How are we different, none of us are even a fraction as strong as you?"

"Let me ask you Jaune, when you started training at Beacon did you notice anything different about your body?" Jaune thought for a moment on that, recalling how it seemed that his body was changing after Pyrrha unlocked his aura.

"Yea, my body grew at an astonishing rate, I barely fit in most of my clothes now and my body got at least a dozen times stronger than I was before Beacon in the first month and Pyrrha said that my aura was easily the largest she's ever seen." Alexander smiled slightly at that.

"That's because you're my son, you're going to get stronger and faster from now on with your aura now released, and how much your body will change is subject to speculation, though when your body is done changing you'll have to get stronger through hard work and training again." Jaune nodded at this, if this was the only time he would be able to ask his dad these question he'd better make the most of it.

* * *

 **1 Hour Later…**

"Well Jaune, I've got time for one more question before I need to go and you go back to your team." Jaune thought once more, closing his eyes to think of what would be the best question to ask.

"Why are you here?"

"What do you mean? Here as in this room, here as in this world, or were you going for some metaphysical question of life?" Alexander said with a small laugh.

"No I mean, why did the Headmaster invite you in? You came in practically armed for war; you even brought a platoon from the Sisterhood, Saul and an army company." Alexander's face turned serious once more at that question.

"Jaune I assume you're aware of what happened in the town of Gellar, the White Fang had managed to open a rift to the Immaterium and let foul creatures come into our plane of existence, ever since we found out about it the Family has set about hunting the White Fang for its apparent connection to the Ruinous Powers, in the last month alone we've stopped a dozen groups that were either trying or had in fact opened a rift, Headmaster Ozpin has recognized that this new threat is not something to be taken lightly, so we're going to partner up with the Academies and help them deal with this threat, we can't go in force as your mother would prefer because that would violate the sovereign lines of the Kingdoms so for now we're acting only as advisors and Kill Teams with permission to act on foreign territory, anything more and we risk starting war amongst the Kingdoms." Alexander said as he looked up and studied that numerous gears of Ozpin's office.

Jaune rubbed his eyes at this information, it was bad enough fighting Grimm who once on the momentum were hard to put down but demonic creatures from another dimension that would happily tear off his face and torture him. Life was just not fair in this regard, and this was one of those moments Jaune wished he just stayed in bed. Alexander stood up and held his arms apart, Jaune stood to hug him.

"It was nice seeing you Jaune, take care of yourself and your team, and remember that your mother and I are so proud." Jaune didn't say anything back, relief and joy made it impossible to say anything, soon enough they break apart and Jaune went back to the elevator just as it opened to show Headmaster Ozpin.

"Hello Mr. Arc I assumed that you've had an enlightening experience?"

"Yes sir." Ozpin smiled; there was something about it that seemed off though, Jaune couldn't put his finger on it and elected to ignore it. Jaune got into the elevator and as the doors closed he saw his father and Ozpin shaking hands, both wore the same face of men who knew that the horrors of the dark were at the door of civilization.

* * *

 **6 Days Later…**

Jaune and Pyrrha were returning from another nightly training session when they rounded the corner to see team RWBY along with Sun and a blue hair teen that they met earlier that week leaving from their dorm.

"Where are you guys heading out too?" Jaune called out, and Ruby turned around and blushed slightly at the sight of him. Jaune was dressed in a pair of white gym shorts and a black shirt, sweat visibly was dripping down his face and he had Crocea Mors in one hand and a gym bag slung over his shoulders. Pyrrha on the other hand who was dressed in a pair of black shorts also and a red tank top looked absolutely fine. However everyone knew that she had a rigorous regime of exercise that they could never keep up with.

"Oh? We're just gonna head out into town is all, wanna come?" Ruby asked hoping slightly that he'd say no just so he wouldn't get caught up in their plan but at the same time she wanted to spend time with him. Pyrrha stared Ruby right in the eyes at that question and Ruby did the same in return; it was no secret that the two of them had a thing for the blond Knight.

"Nah, I'm good, figure I'd finish the rest of the day off relaxing in our room." Jaune said casually, and fumbled for his scroll that was tucked in his bag to unlock the door. Pyrrha however just tapped her own scroll against the lock and a soft beep was heard to signal that the door was unlocked.

Despite the competition between them it seems that the one person who hasn't noticed was Jaune himself, his obliviousness to the opposite sex was astounding. Yang and Nora had even started a small betting pool between the two teams, however when word broke out more than a few others chipped in their own bets.

Team CRDL who has slowly rectified their terrible behavior from the start of the year bet that Pyrrha and Jaune are most likely going to get together. Yang and Weiss both believe that Ruby is going to win, due to the fact that she was the first one to meet Jaune.

Another student by the name of Velvet Scarlatina who was Cardin's biggest victim for being Faunus became fast friends with both teams after Jaune told Cardin to apologize to all the people he had bullied. She had even introduced her own team, CFVY, who had thanked them for doing what they did and also were now considered friends.

Coco Adel, the leader had placed her bet on it being Pyrrha who would also win, shockingly enough Yatsuhashi Daichi had also placed a bet on the champion. Velvet and Fox abstained from betting, Velvet didn't think it was right to bet like that but Yang, Coco, and Nora speculated that it was because she had a crush on Jaune also. Fox on the other hand just didn't care enough to actually vote at the moment.

What took them even more by surprise was that even the adults were voting too, Oobleck and Port had their bets that Ruby would win. Professor Peach had sent a student with a letter and some Lien saying that she felt that Pyrrha would win.

Even the members of the Arc family who had spent a great deal of time interacting with the students of Beacon chipped in. Sanian and Brin had a bet that Pyrrha and Jaune would get together, Lilly who had dropped by a few times placed a bet that Ruby would win. What was even funnier was that Jaune's father Alexander had come but only to act as proxy for his wife who had somehow heard of the bet, placing a bet that no one would get Jaune.

"Oh, okay Jaune, we'll see ya later than." Ruby said as she turned around to catch up with her team.

"Have fun!" Jaune called out as Ruby rounded a corner disappearing from his sight, and stepped into the room, Nora and Ren weren't inside. Jaune checked his scroll if Ren had sent him a message and it turns out that they had gone to town as well and probably wouldn't be back till curfew.

"Jaune do you want take the first shower?" Pyrrha asked as she put her stuff away and rummaged through a drawer to find something to wear.

"You sure about that Pyrrha? You worked just as hard it would be unkind of me to take the first shower from my trainer." He replied with an easy smile, Pyrrha smiled back, even with trivial things like this he always put her needs before her.

"I insist Jaune, really." He shrugged and grabbed a towel and spare set of clothes and headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. The moment she heard the shower turn on, Pyrrha sat on her bed, it was frustrating dealing with her emotions. She was always so used to be calm and collected but something about Jaune just made her want to express herself more, and most notably express her feelings for him.

Jaune on the other hand was merrily whistling in the shower, the feel of warm water relaxing his sore body. A thought flashed in his mind, he was supposed to be getting stronger but he still couldn't win a spar in combat class and how was it that Pyrrha never seemed to be visible tired after a training session. Most likely it was because that every step he made he was still a step behind everyone else, there was no doubt that the others were improving as well, he just wasn't improving enough to catch up.

Yet it didn't bother him so much now, sure he still wanted to approve but he knew that if he got caught up in that he most likely may have another incident like he had with Pyrrha.

This brought him to his next thought, as of late he's started to notice that she and Ruby seemed to not be getting along so well. The last combat class they were in, they got paired up to fight and it looked like they were upset or something with each other but when Jaune asked they just said it was a girl thing.

Jaune decided to take into account what his family has been telling and planned to put it to a test. He turned off the shower and stepped out to dry himself off. He slipped on some undergarments and a pair of white nylon shorts but purposely left his shirt out on his bed, and opted instead to have his towel wrapped around his shoulders in order to give some form of modesty and keep Pyrrha off the trail of him testing her, he reached for the doorknob.

Pyrrha continued to lay on her bed, one arm over her face, she had spent the last five minutes trying to banish the thoughts of Jaune taking a shower, the water dripping down his well-defined torso down to his waist and below.

"Why must you toy with me Jaune Arc?" She said just as the door opened and she bolted up into a sitting position and it was like a dream come true. Standing in the door way with some white shorts on was a six foot five inches of yummy Arc candy; she could see his deliciously toned abs and a fire ignited in her chest.

"You say something Pyrrha?" Jaune asked casually as he walked over towards his bed and slide a black V-neck shirt his head and hugged his body tightly, when she didn't respond he turned to see that she was staring at his body still.

"Pyrrha? You're starting to drool." She looked up and saw that he was smiling teasingly at her, and she could feel her face heating up and she grabbed her clothes and rushed into the bathroom closing and locking the door behind her. She rested her back against it and let out a loud sigh, she walked towards the sink and took off her circlet and stripped down.

As the warm water hit her, she let out another sigh of relief; it was always nice taking a warm shower after a good workout, it always helped ease the tension in her body. However as she stood there, the image of Jaune in his shorts kept popping into her mind and once more a warm sensation blossomed from her chest. As she scrubbed herself clean, she couldn't help but have one hand slowly reach down and soon enough Pyrrha was in a world of pure bliss the only thing on her mind was Jaune Arc.

Jaune lay back onto his bed, his test seemed to have been successful but was it because he practically came out half naked, or was it because he was the one half naked. Questions for later, he had to admit it though it was joy to see Pyrrha so flustered like that. Whenever she was around Jaune did feel generally happier and the same could be said for Ruby, however there was something different when it was with her.

Time passed slowly as Jaune looked at the ceiling; the shower was still running in the bathroom, did Pyrrha go to sleep in the shower or something?

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Hei Xiong, more commonly known as Junior, watched as the Blond Brawler and her idiotic friend walked out of the club. He released a sigh of relief, he really didn't need to have another fight start tonight especially with the company he had with him. He wasn't sure why he still listened to Roman Torchwick but the way he say that Junior shouldn't cross her gave him more than enough reason to listen this time.

"Who was that?" A sultry voice came from behind, and Junior turned to see the now apparent boss of Roman Torchwick, he had to admit she was a fine woman but his instinct screamed he was likely to get burned if he approached her.

"Just a customer looking for some information that I didn't have, nothing more." He replied hoping that his voice wouldn't reveal any of the fear he was experiencing. He nodded softly and walked around the bar, her two associates, a man and a girl emerged from a nearby table.

"Hey what did you need with Melanie and Miltia?" He called out; he hasn't seen the two girls since the woman called them into the back almost an hour ago.

"Oh, I was just…illuminating them on a few topics." She called back with a slightly wave of her hand, Junior could see the look of unease that were on her two associates faces, so they left. Junior stood there at the bar with a cup in his hand, and reached down to pick up a bottle of liquor that he saved for particularly stressful nights.

"Boss…" A new voice came from his right, the sheer terror soaking the word made him stop, he turned around and looked at one of his new boys, the red glasses on his face were gone and Junior could see the intense fear in his face. He raised a shaky gloved hand and pointed towards the door leading to the back rooms, what he saw nearly drove him mad. There stood Melanie and Miltia, but they were changed, changed to the point of incomprehension.

Miltia stood hunched over and naked, her skin no longer the pale beauty he once knew but a raw pink ripple of loose flesh, a third breast could be seen forming on her stomach. Her once black hair no longer was a vibrant black hair but now looked more like spikes swept back on her now deformed head, her jaw opened to reveal razor black teeth and a long slithering purple tongue. Her hands now were two asymmetrically large claws, one was more akin to a crab claw and the other had serrated teeth lining it. Her eyes, once green, were now completely black yet he could feel the hungry emitting from them.

Next to her was her twin Melanie, she looked almost the same but her right hand look human apart from the abnormally long fingers, her other hand however was a pink tentacle. What also surprised him was the fact he could see a large dick swinging between her legs. That was something he wasn't prepared for, her legs were revered jointed and no longer resemble that of a normal human but now were now claws that easily a foot long.

"Juuuuuunioooor." The thing that was once Miltia called out singsong like, he took a step back and the rest of his men started to back towards the door, a few reached for their weapons.

"Coooooome play with uusssssssss." The former Melanie called out, but the words devolved into a loud hiss like that of a snake. The closest man pulled out a handgun when he thought they weren't looking and aimed it. However before he could squeeze the trigger, Miltia turned and jumped towards him, one claw immobilized his arm and twisted it away from her.

"Come now, we just want to play." It hissed once more, the other claw came up and clamped around his neck, the man started to scream. Junior watched as the thing applied pressure around his neck and pulled up, the head came up in a shower of blood, and the head still attached to the spine was now raised high above his lifeless body.

"Kill Them!" Junior screamed as loud as he could, and dove under the bar to get his weapon, the staccato fire of handguns and submachine guns thunderously echoed in the dim room. Junior stood up once more to see the two creatures weave in and out of the gunfire, though he could see that a few shots hit their mark but it seemed that it wouldn't be enough to put them down.

He watched as a man skull was turned into a red mist by the brute force of a claw smashing down on it. Another man was held up against the wall as a tentacle penetrated each of his eyes before slithering down his mouth to choke him. Two men with hatchets charged from behind and it kicked back, its clawed foot breaking into one man's chest and pulled out his heart, with his ribs now jutting out internal organs and fluid poured out. Its other hand shot out and impacted the second man's mouth, shattering teeth as it broke in and gripping his lower jaw and pulled back ripping it off his face.

The man fell to his knees, and in a futile attempt tried to cover the wound, Junior could see his ruined face with his tongue flopping against his neck as he tried to talk before he keeled over dead.

Junior saw that the last of his men abandon any attempt of fighting back run towards the exits. One of the creatures who had the DJ in its clutches had a long purple tongue around his neck and when it removed it the flesh was torn off his throat and it finished him off by shoving a pincer through his chest. It saw its prey escaping and dashed towards the door. The lucky few that were closest made it out before a creature slammed the door closed and face the men, the other creature appeared behind them and Junior watched as the last of his men were butchered.

"MORE!" One chortled as bit into the throat of one man whose screaming dissolved into a loud gurgle, pulling back a chunk of his throat was torn free and it dropped him to the floor as he tried to stem the flow. That was when Junior realized that most of the people they attacked they didn't actually kill, they just gave him mortally fatal wounds and left them to die, giggling the whole time.

Junior watched as the last living member of his crew crawled towards the bar, the skin on his face was ripped off and he could see each muscle on his face twitch in pain. Junior threw up, falling to his knees, his weapon forgotten as it rolled away.

"Juuuuuuunior, how kind of you to wait for us ladies." He looked up to see the erect dick of the former Melanie in his face, and he sadly noticed that along the length of the shaft was a serrated spine pointed back so that they would rip anything on its way out.

"Just make it quick, please." He croaked out, fear flooded his limbs staying his hand from reach for his weapon; the no longer recognizable face of Miltia Malachite came into view, a long purple tongue licking its lips.

"Ooooooh Junior we're not going to treat you like the goons, noooooo we're going to share the delights of the flesh with you." It cooed in his ear, he could feel a shiver travel down his spine at hearing it. Both of them soon started to cackle and stood to either side of Junior and reached down for him, he screamed and didn't stop screaming for the next hour.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

It wasn't until dawn that when the morning cleanup crew arrived to start their job that the police were called. In response to the terrifying description that traumatized cleaning crew gave, the Vale Police Department dispatched more than three dozen officers.

Word spreading fast about the massacre at Juniors Club the Arc Family was given clearance to deploy a Kill Team from the Sisterhood that were in Beacon to support the police. In less than ten minutes two black heavily armed and armored Bullheads with the Arc Crest visible on the sides appeared, using the closest intersections which had been blocked off by the Police to keep civilians out of the area, a dozen armored women stepped out.

Most of the officers were shocked at strange armor and weapons the women were carrying, two of them even have flamethrowers. After the initial shock both the Police and Sisterhood entered the club, the first thing they saw was a pile of shredded bodies in front of the main door, the rest of the club was in a similar situation. Pools of blood, shredded clumps of flesh and bone fragments covered the floor and walls.

The few bodies with faces intact held the last expression that the person had before death; each one was that of someone who saw an unimaginable horror. Most of the Vale officers immediately left the room to void their stomachs out onto the streets. The Sisterhood squad however were unfazed, and immediately looked at the door to the back room there they entered in a textbook fashion maneuver ready to let loose a fusillade of bolter and fire at anything that wasn't human.

The only thing they saw however was the bodies of three men and three women; they had apparently died in the throes ecstasy. The ranking commander of the Sisterhood squad immediately noted that the number of bodies and the purpose of the location coincide with the traits of those who worship the youngest of the Ruinous Powers. As they exited the back-room the few remaining officers that didn't throw up were now looking shocked at the ceiling.

There they could see the former owner, Hei Xiong, nailed to the ceiling not an inch of skin remained on his body. It wasn't until an hour later when the officers had sent in a cleanup crew that they found out something even more shocking, he was still alive, his lidless eyes following each and every movement they made as they rushed to get him down and to a hospital.

* * *

 **Hey there folks, sorry about the late update, I've been out with the Flu, still have it in fact but I figured I might as well and try to power through it and get this chapter finished asap, though it will probably be subject to further editing when I'm feeling better, and with college starting up again in a week there's gonna be a longer time between chapters.**

 **Anyways I hope you enjoy reading it and remember to feel free to leave any thoughts or comments you may have.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Qrow Branwen stood over the corpses of the Atlas Military team that had been sent out ahead to scout the path towards the mountain that held the primary target. General Ironwood had insisted that if the Arc Family could send, auxiliaries, as he calls them so could Atlas which already had a significant presence in Vale. So Ironwood went to Ozpin and surprisingly enough he granted the request to let Ironwood send his men out.

Qrow however knew that Ozpin wasn't just caving in to Ironwood's demands to be involved in any Huntsman or Military activities of Vale and by extension the Arc's. He was letting him get involved so he could see the disastrous mistakes of not trusting the Arc's; in doing so the lives of the scout team were lost but ultimately served the purpose Ozpin had for them.

He leaned down over a corpse of the Atlas Team Leader that was cut into three pieces, and picked up the head of the team's leader. For the life of him he couldn't remember her name, all he could recall was how wet behind the ears she was. Though Qrow figured she must have either been a good soldier or the kid of some wealthy snobs to be assigned to a mission like this.

"Poor gaks." Came a soft feminine voice from behind Qrow, he still needed to keep his instincts from reacting whenever she did that, bloody woman was like a ghost.

"Muril, seriously I need to put a bell on you or something." Qrow sighed as he took out his flask and slowly unscrewed the top and started to drink from it. Sergeant Sehra Muril, ever since they met at Gellar it seemed that they were always running into each other, not that she didn't mind not that she mind it was like good luck for her. Despite his general attitude, Sehra knew that he was a sweet guy and very handsome she had to say.

"Oooh I didn't think you were that kind of guy." Sehra respond a coy smile appearing on her face and over exaggeratingly fluttering her eyelashes in a feign attempt of innocence, Qrow snorted as the rest of her squad appeared.

"Holy shit." The youngest of them, Terrik Golven, whispered as his hand slapped against his mouth to prevent him from throwing up, Sehra rolled her eyes and looked to her corporal, a tall and lanky girl by the name of Geri.

"Geri go take care of Terrik, Hopkins and O'Bryan, tag the bodies for recovery, and see if you can find any name tags." She added that last bit in a quieter voice, she looked at the mutilated bodies and grimaced slightly, fighting the Arch Enemy rarely left the causalities in the condition for an open casket funeral. Though to be fair most of the time fighting the Arch Enemy tend to go along the line of no body being alive to arrange those funerals.

"Something is watching us." Qrow said suddenly as he put down the severed head, he didn't look perturbed at the slightest, didn't even reach for his weapon. Sehra on the other hand had already motioned for everyone to stop what they're doing. The nine members of her squad immediately split into teams of two and scanned the area around them their rifles tracking for any signs of movement.

Geri who immediately appeared next to her had a small device in her hand that she slowly panned around them, her eyes glued to the green and black screen on top of it.

"Nothing on the auspex." Sehra clicked her tongue and placed a hand on her hand on the auspex and slowly pushed it down.

"That hunk of junk isn't going to catch whatever that's hunting us."

"Ma'am you think it's Grimm?" The largest of her squad Henson, at six foot nine inches with arms bigger than her thighs he carried a heavy stubber. It was a two foot long rectangle box with the handle extending from the back upwards, the barrel that was another three feet, a long belt of 12.7 milliliter rounds coming from his backpack connecting to the left side.

"Nah you're average Grimm wouldn't have waited so long, even if it's a Beowolf pack, they'd have attacked us by now, and Elder Grimm would have left already to try again until it catches us off guard." Qrow said nonchalantly, everyone tightened their grips on their weapons. If it wasn't a Grimm than that left two options left, a creature of the Immaterium or the Arch Enemy.

"Tallulah, get on the line with Field Command, let them know that we're gonna need to switch, primary operational status is no longer in effect." Sehra called back to her Vox officer, who immediately shifted her pack in front of her, however the moment she activated it, a loud screech exploded from the speaker.

"You fucking Gak Head turn it off." Sehra hissed at her Vox Officer and pulled out her sidearm, Qrow noted that it was the same one that she used in Gellar.

"Ma'am you need to come listen to this." Tallulah said and she beckoned her over, and with a roll of her eyes she quickly made her way over to him, anyone of else would have made noise in the blood soak dirt with their movement but Sehra had known some of the best people when it came to stealth.

Sehra grabbed the receiver from her hand and placed it against her ear, at first it was the steady tone of dead air but as she listened longer she could hear whispers, promises of lust, fulfillment and pleasure. She felt like she was going to throw up, and dropped the receiver, reaching over she turned off the caster.

"Chatter is on the line, we either need to kill whatever is watching us or get to higher ground." Sehra said as she looked back at Qrow who was still standing in the same spot relaxed. However she noted that his eyes were hardened and were slowly scanning the tree line.

"I think whatever it out there is about to make the decision for us." He said as he slipped his flask away, just as he did that Henson let loose a long burst of heavy stubber fire, the sound of deafening. A slithering pink bipedal creature that looked vaguely like a woman came flying from a nearby tree at Henson, the sustained fire from his weapon kept it from getting any closer to its target and it soon fell to the ground. Sehra could see that its pink pincers was still opening and closing.

"Finish it off Henson, the rest of you keep your eyes peeled for the rest." Sehra called out as she leveled her side arm at the creature in front of Henson who braced himself as he let loose another flurry of shots, and Sehra watched as it screamed while its body came apart from the heavy caliber weapon. The screams however were not of pain but of joy, the kind of joy that would bring envy from anyone else but the source of its joy would be enough to drive away the very same that it would ensnare.

"It seems one has jumped the gun, now the rest will no doubt come." Qrow said and at that moment Sehra turned around to see another pink feminine creature rearing up to come attack her and Tallulah, before she could even shout a warning, the tree branch above it cracked as it fell down and smashed right onto its head. While not enough to kill the creature, the distraction was enough for Sehra to raise her weapon and shoot it in the head.

The high explosion round tore through its forehead and exploded, sending bloody bone fragments and gore all over the nearby trees and shrubbery. Like a dam breaking, more creatures started to charge out of the woods, Sehra and the rest of her squad immediately opened fired with everything they had.

The loud continuous noise of the solid round weapons was by far the most disorienting thing Qrow had ever experience, the dazzling flash of muzzle fire, the acrid smoke of gunpowder, and the thunderous report of the rifles made it hard to concentrate.

However Qrow didn't live for as long as he had by not adapting as quickly as he could, with a deep breath he closed his eyes and focused taking in the sound and smell of everything around him. He crouched slightly and drew his sword, and took off in order to get closer to the enemy.

They weren't anything like the creatures he had fought with Sehra in Gellar, those were creatures of violence and strength, these while strong themselves were twisted in a sense of some strange perversion. He saw tentacles, claws, pincers, spiked erections of what he assumed were males that supported two, three, or more breasts like that of a woman. They were hideous; while the Creatures of Grimm were soulless monsters that could give any man a sense of fear, these creatures on the other hand inspired fear that threatened to strip any semblance of sanity.

The first creature he met stabbed at him with grotesque claws that had serrated edges underneath; Qrow moved to the side and brought his sword up severing the claw from the elbow. He followed by reversing the sword down into its chest, the sword bit flesh and easily passed through and it fell in two, laughing in glee the entire time he cut it down.

The next one was taller than him and had two pincers and a pair of tentacles that sprouted from its breasts. Qrow weaved in-between each of its attempts to grab him with its pincers or tentacle, however he soon found out that the pincers were armored for he couldn't cut them off and could only parry or dodge it. The tentacles were also proving to be a problem because they were apparently oozing some sort of acid that hissed on contact with his blade, it would be a problem to break his blade so he was forced to just dodge.

Things got even more serious when a second creature, this one half the size of Qrow, surprisingly enough he thought of his youngest niece as he watched it. This proved to be a near fatal mistake when it opened its mouth incredibly wide revealing several rows of human teeth and spat a hissing glob at him once more. Qrow quickly recognizing the threat barely moved aside but a few droplets splattered his arm and he could feel an incredible pain.

Looking down he could see several spots on his right arm of raw flesh. He started back up weaving in and out of their strikes at him and rolled away, occasionally striking back but never getting an opportunity to finish either one off. The sound of gunfire from Sehra and her squad still echoed thunderously but he couldn't pause long enough to assess the situation.

That was when a creature finally broke through the barrage of fire, Henson's heavy stubber had overheated, he immediately flung it off him but with the stopping power gone it wouldn't end well. As Henson drew his sidearm, unloading the magazine into its chest, it reached out with pincers and gripped his jaw and as he started to scream for help, the pincers squeezed. His jaw caved in and his voice dissolved into a gurgling mess.

"Henson!" Terrik screamed and swung his rifle around to avenge the support gunner, but in doing so lessened the weight of fire in his original line of sight, Geri yelled for him to turn back around. He didn't see the creature that came sprinting from the tree line and jumped on him immediately wrapped its jaw around his neck and biting down, the force enough to crack his neck alone.

Sehra put a bolt round into the back of its head and stood in Terrik's spot, calmly picking her targets and sending a bolt round at anything that got in her sight. Qrow who had heard the sound of screaming swore loudly and backpedalled as far as he could and the smaller of the two creatures immediately followed in pursuit but as it lashed out with both another glob of acid followed by swinging its claws in hopes of getting his face.

Qrow ducked under the glob and stepped aside swinging his sword up catching the creature in the mouth the blade breaking the rows of teeth and cutting the head in two. The second creature which had also made its move in hopes of catching him off guard instead was met with a blast to the face by Qrow's shotgun.

He turned towards Sehra and her squad, apparently another person was being added to the death count. Qrow didn't know her name but he watched as she was dragged away screaming by two of the creature who had her by the arms.

The others tried to kill the creatures but with the dwindling firepower it was futile, he started to run back to them as the two creatures pulled her arms off, laughing as she screamed in pure agony. Another creature stepped up and shoved one of its tentacles into her mouth while the other slithered around her neck and Qrow watched as it pulled it up separating the top part of her head from the rest of her body.

Sehra watched as Selene was killed, they were all going to die unless something changed fast. She put two rounds into another creature as it jumped from a tree down towards them; the first blew its arm off the second put a hole in its chest. She reached for her belt pouches and pulled out a tube, it was roughly a foot long and she took hold of a strip that was wrapped around it and yanked it off.

"Fire in the hole!" She screamed and tossed it at the largest group of the Daemons, the surviving members of her squad saw what she threw and braced themselves. An earsplitting explosion tore through the clearing send rock fragments and dust into the air.

"What the hell was that?" Qrow shouted as he rejoined them, one finger rubbing at his ears.

"Tube Charge, for the simple answer they make loud booms as you just heard."

"Heard? I pretty sure I'm gonna go deaf now." Sehra laughed as she readied her bolt pistol again and shot another of the stragglers that were outside the explosion. Qrow lunged forward and swung his sword in an overhead arc that cut from the shoulder to the waist of a creature. Pivoting he aimed his sword at another creature that lunged at him and blasted it in the chest sending it flying back, it's chest a mess of torn flesh and bone.

Though it was dying slowly it laid on the ground moaning and crying out more in pleasure than suffering from the wound, a long burst of gunfire from Geri shredded its head into a bloody mess.

That's when he heard the roars of jets in the distance while side stepping another swing from a long limbed creature that had purple bone blades in place of arms. He ducked down and swung his sword at its legs and cut down of them at the knee, the creature fell flaying its arms about in attempt to hit him but he stepped back and leveled his shotgun once more and blasted it in the face.

Qrow looked up to see the last of the creatures getting put down, two members of Sehra squad stood over it each putting three rounds from their rifles into its head and proceeding on to any other body that is mostly intact. Sehra was picking up the tags of the woman who was killed; she already had Terrik's and Henson's tags in hand.

"That could have gone better, Tallulah how's the chatter?" She called out.

"It's all good Sergeant, Command was just on the line wanting to inform us that they have already dispatched the rest of our Platoon out to come find us, we're gonna get rotated out while new plans are drawn up." She responded, taking off her helmet to run a hand over buzz cut hair. Sehra put a hand on her shoulder.

"Take a breather, you deserve it." Sehra said softly, a small smile gracing her lips, though most would wonder how she could smile in such a situation where people died. Well she's been fighting for a long time, and sadly after a while death and dying while are things no one looks forward too, are just a fact of life sooner or later it just doesn't affect you as much as it first did.

Soon the noise of several Bullheads coming into the vicinity drew all their attention; five were bore the marks of the Arc Family while the last two were Atlas. The occupants of four of the Bullheads with the Arc symbol on them threw down thick ropes which they slid down from, soon the clearing was filled with almost fifty armed men and women of the Arc's and one Huntsman. Qrow on the other hand mostly ignored them, instead more focused on who was in the Atlas Bullheads; one was setting down in the opposite side of the clearing.

Qrow could tell that is was going to really tax his patience with whomever it was, and sadly he was right. The person to come off the Bullhead was General Ironwood himself. Someone behind Qrow whistled at this.

"Wow didn't think a High Brow would come out here just to check up on us."

"Shut up Lelvick can't you see he's Atlas Military?"

"Shit, its fething Ironwood himself." A general buzz descended upon the people as they watched Ironwood in his immaculate uniform walk through the blood soaked soil and occasionally stepped over a mutilated body.

"Qrow." Ironwood said curtly, looking up and down Qrow, though his gaze did hover slightly at the marks on his arm before going back to scanning the faces behind him.

"Direct me to my team please." Ironwood said before stepping past Qrow and standing before the assembled troops of the Arc's.

"Your team?"

"Yes we heard that the Arc squad with you took some casualties, I would like to check up on the team I paired with you for this scout mission, which I may say you've also botched." The tone of polite impatience flooding his voice, a few of the soldiers in front of him grumbled, a gentle murmur rose as they spoke amongst themselves.

"So again, where's my team Qrow?" Ironwood as he turned around to stare at Qrow, he was just standing there drinking from his flask, everyone watched him and he noticed that once more that people were staring at him but he just shrugged and went back to it.

"Uh? General Ironwood sir." Sehra as she stepped out from the ranks, a bag in her hands, she stopped in front of Ironwood and gave a crisp salute, which he promptly gave back.

"Ah Sergeant Muril was it? You're the squad that was paired up my team in this joint operation, I'm sorry to hear about your causalities but would you kindly show me where my team is." He said a little gentler about it, she noted but it was going to get a bit awkward. She raised the bag up and took Ironwoods hand and placed it in it.

"What's this Sergeant?"

"The identification tags of your team, Sir." She said neutrally as she stepped back, Ironwood opened the bag and found the tags of every member of the Atlas team in it.

"You mean to tell me that no one survived?" Qrow patted Ironwood on the shoulder.

"Tough luck there Jimmy, probably shouldn't have told them to do as they pleased instead of listening to the Auxiliaries, right?"

"How can you say that Qrow, how can I trust the lives of my troops with the men and woman who've started the Faunus Rights Revolution?"

"Please its people like Atlas or the SDC that gave cause to the Faunus Rights Revolution, but that's the past and all this macho nationalism you have going on is just going to get people hurt or worse like this case Jimmy."

"You're wrong Qrow I'm playing by the rules and working with the Kingdoms, it's the Arc's that are off the map with their rules and practices." Qrow sighed as he rubbed one hand on his face, this was going nowhere and all he wanted to do now was go to sleep.

"You know what Jimmy, do what you think is right okay? I'm just gonna catch a ride with these fine soldiers behind you that just so happen to be risking their lives on foreign soil and head back to Vale, Ozpin and Alexander are gonna be annoyed at hearing how this turned out." Qrow said as he stepped away from Ironwood to walk towards the assembled soldiers, Sehra patted his arm as he walked by her and both of them left Ironwood standing there. Ironwood looked up at what was supposed to be their objective, a stain once more from history.

"You're still a problem even to this day Mountain Glenn."

* * *

 **Two Days Later…**

Jaune Arc watched his partner and probably closet friend Pyrrha Nikos utterly destroy Cardin by slamming him into the ground from twenty feet in the air. He knew that she discreetly used her semblance to help avoid hits or open up opportunities to strike in her fights but even still it wasn't something she ever really relied upon. She didn't become a world renowned champion by only using her semblance. Goodwitch called the match at that and soon looked around trying to decide the next match.

Surprisingly enough some silver haired teen raised his hand for the match, and what drew Jaune suspicion was that he asked to fight Pyrrha. Pyrrha always told him how people would try challenging her to see if they could unseat the invincible girl but there was something about the boy attitude that seemed both fake and genuine.

Jaune watched as they squared off in the arena, once Goodwitch started the match he surprised everyone there but actually holding his ground against her, Pyrrha on the other hand went defensive. Most people would think it was because he was actually doing pretty well but Jaune knew his partner enough to tell that she was trying to figure him out, from his style to the way his body moves. Though the stranger did knock Miló out from her hands, Jaune knew from first hand beatings that Pyrrha wielded Akoúo just as well as any other weapon.

Proof to his thought and experience Pyrrha still held her ground but Jaune could see that she used her semblance to avoid a nasty kick to the face. With that the guy broke contact and forfeited the match, Goodwitch reprimanded him for picking someone he knew he couldn't win against. Jaune could also see that Pyrrha was slightly annoyed at him giving up; she didn't like people who didn't put in the effort to fight when they're paired up against her.

"YEAH! GOOOO PYRRHA!" Came a voice like thunder from behind Jaune and he turned to see Nora with a foam finger that said Pyrrha was number one. No one knew when Nora had gotten it but apparently she had retrieved enough for everyone, Ren, Ruby, and Yang also had foam fingers on cheering at various volumes.

Weiss just politely clapped a smug look on her face for some reason and it turned out that two boys from Vacuo apparently had bet against Pyrrha and now were giving some Lien to Weiss who tucked it away discreetly. Blake on the other hand seemed distracted from the whole ordeal and was writing in her journal.

Ruby saw him looking at everyone and tried to get his attention by smiling at him, but Jaune just turned around. He couldn't help but feel annoyed and slightly hurt at the actions of team RWBY as of late, once again they had gone out specifically to go and hunt down dangerous criminals on their own. This time they involved Sun once more and that blue hair guy that constantly flirts with Weiss, who surprisingly enough flirts back.

So he's been avoiding chatting with them whenever he could, even when he was sitting with them in the cafeteria he made his responses short and to the point. Pyrrha and Yang tried to ease the tension between them whenever they could but surprisingly enough Nora and Ren both sided with Jaune on this matter.

Blake was unapologetic in her intention to hunt down the White Fang once more, Ruby the idealistic youth also wanted to go and fight the bad guys. Weiss also didn't particularly want to go and find trouble but she would stick by her team no matter what even if it's was a stupid idea.

Soon Goodwitch dismissed the classes reminding everyone that both the Dance and their first mission were coming soon, Jaune got up grabbing both his stuff and Pyrrha's who had left her notebook with him.

"Jaune?" Came the uncharacteristically serious voice of Yang, he turned to regard her, face set in a neutral expression which made her flinch slightly. She understood why he was upset with them, it wasn't the first time she's been a part of something that meant going out and getting into very dangerous situation. Ruby on the other hand was devastated that her crush, or best friend, as she vehemently claims whenever Yang teased her was really distraught at Jaune ignoring her.

"Jaune you can't be upset at us for this long it's just childish now." She could see his eyebrow twitch softly at that, but he didn't say anything.

"Jaune who cares that we snuck out and went to go fight with Torchwick and the White Fang, it didn't even matter that they had some giant robot mech thing, we won and came back safe." Jaune did his best to ignore her but Blake stepped in also when she heard Yang speaking to him.

"I see you really aren't like your family Jaune, they would have done what's right." Jaune stopped abruptly at that and Yang walked right into him, she expected him to stumble forward but surprisingly it felt like she walked into a brick wall, what the hell was cereal girl feeding him? She turned around and saw that both Ren and Nora wide eye in shock looking back and forth between Jaune and Blake, who was standing with her arms crossed, her journal held in one hand. Weiss just shuffled a little uncomfortable at the atmosphere.

"What's everyone doing?" Came the voice of Pyrrha and they turned to see her changed back into her uniform, a bright smile on her face that slowly died as she saw the scene, her eyes zeroing in on Jaune and his posture. Yang could see that she was instantaneously worried about what was going on, and moved in to put her hand on Jaune's arm.

"Jaune are you alright…" Pyrrha's voice trailed off as she saw Jaune's face, and stepped back, this surprised Yang she also knew that Pyrrha liked Jaune a lot but to see her back away like that was not normal. Jaune turned around and Yang half expected to see a look of utter wraith on his face but in reality it was nothing, no anger, no sadness, no pain, there was nothing, it was unnerving.

"Funny how you say that Blake Belladonna, it was those very same people that told you that you're doing nothing but causing trouble not only for yourself but those around you." Blake scoffed what an infantile response typical of those who rather wait than take action.

"I'm helping stop a criminal and the White Fang do whatever they want."

"Ah yes you're the best suited person to do this right? All that inside information sure makes you the only person capable of doing anything to stop them unlike the police, professional Hunters, even soldiers from Arcadia and Atlas who are all amateurs that would lose to you whether it was investigating or fighting." Ruby spoke suddenly at that in slight confusion at the word Arcadia.

"Arcadia?" Jaune blinked at that and tilted his head back a little; a sadly amused smile touched his face.

"That's the official name of the territory the Arc Family recognizes as their Kingdom." Blake cut in once again annoyance plain on her face.

"If they were so capable of doing their job they would have been able to do something long ago so no I don't think they're up to the task."

"Right I'm sure they couldn't have caused major scenes of destructions quite on the scale of you Blake nor involve other people in your personal feuds either, like recently major damage to the highway and numerous accidents with civilians caused by a giant mecha on a busy highway? Tell me Blake do you know how many people got hurt?" Blake didn't respond opting instead to glare at Jaune.

"I do, twenty two people injured with broken bones and sprains, a dozen critically hospitalized due to getting their cars getting smashed by a mecha, and four dead but thankfully team RWBY was on the scene otherwise it could have been worse right?" Everyone looked away even Blake. a sense of guilt building in her body at hearing this.

"Let's not forget what happened to Sun and his friend, you didn't even bother to go and find them after they got knocked off the highway, though admittedly they did find a good noodle stand so I guess you can thank them for that, but my point is just like the docks you caused a lot of damage and nearly got people hurt because you've got some twisted sense of duty to take care of the White Fang. What's even worse is the fact you couldn't even capture Roman Torchwick again, you think you've won but you don't know anything, all you know is that the White Fang is recruiting, Roman is still partnered with them and that they somehow got their hands on Atlas tech, but you don't know where they're hiding, how they got the mecha and what they were planning on doing with it in the first place, sounds to me you once again fucked things up but feel good about it cause you did something, though that something was stupid and didn't functionally do anything good." Jaune said calmly, each word hitting them hard, Ruby looked distraught, Blake felt nothing but guilt, Weiss was a little more controlled but she did feel bad, Yang's eyes were a little red angry at Jaune for making her team feel like this.

"What the fuck do you know Jaune Arc? You standing there judging us like we're some fucking idiots but we're doing something unlike you." Jaune just looked blankly at Yang as she grabbed his collar and pulled him face to face with her.

"You're right I'm not doing anything like endangering other people's lives because I'm not an adrenaline junkie, an obsessive idealistic vigilante, a girl that desperately wants to be her own person or a naïve girl that wants to fight bad guys and change the world, one last thing for you specifically Yang, I think you should look at the news of that weekend also concerning a particular club in Vale." Jaune said as he pointedly looked at each member of team RWBY and pulled away from Yang's grip, she wasn't sure if she should feel sad, angry or guilty but for some reason Jaune looked worse. His mask had finally cracked and she could see in his eyes nothing but pain. He turned and walked away, Pyrrha immediately followed him, Nora and Ren stood there with team RWBY.

Soon enough Ren and Nora just opted to leave the group alone and went off in the direction that their leader went. Ruby could feel the stinging sensation in her eyes build up, she just wanted to do what was right but was them doing those things just leading up to more people getting hurt in the process, and now Jaune hated them. She was going to lose him and she wasn't sure what she could do about it.

Weiss just stood there, while she generally agreed about what he said about them doing foolish things like this just as she had done, the way he said it was colder than she had ever expected of him. What really surprised her was that she liked him like that, it was strangely appealing. Though at the same time she disliked being talked down to like a naïve child that didn't know what they were doing.

Blake was a mixture of anger and guilt once more, she knew she shouldn't have said that to Jaune at the first place but she's put so much effort in trying to deal with the White Fang that she hated having some look down on her cause. In a sense it was the same with the incident with Weiss, though Blake had cut ties with the White Fang, hearing Weiss state the obvious about the group that she had devoted most of her life was too much to deal with. She didn't want to acknowledge that she was wrong. Though the incident at the docks cemented what she had already known the moment she left, him, on the train. Now she was being forced to face that fact that what she's doing is once more causing more harm than good.

Soon the members of team RWBY just silently walked back to their dorm, and silently turned in for the night.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

During breakfast Ruby received a message on her scroll, apparently team CFVY would be unable to organize the Dance and have nominated them to take their place, which they graciously said yes, Weiss and Yang being the most enthusiastic. Blake mostly kept silent, obviously still upset about what had happened between her and Jaune the other day. Ruby also was the same though not necessarily for the same reason, she now knew that Pyrrha had the lead on her with Jaune.

Speaking of the enemy, she was sitting across from her happily eating her plain oatmeal the only thing she had added was a little bit of cinnamon and strawberries, what a fiend. Though Ruby did like strawberries, especially covered in chocolate, though what she's heard when she's spying, no wait, observing her and Jaune was that she also had a great weakness to chocolate. Though she was obviously lying, as far as Ruby could see otherwise she would be envious of the cookie dough ice creamed covered in chocolate syrup and cookie chunks that she had.

"Ruby you seriously need to eat better." Weiss said as she set her cup of hot coffee down, she had a spinach and mushroom omelet half-finished in front of her. Ruby thought that eggs were cool and all but they didn't taste anywhere as good as cookies. So she laughed and patted Weiss on the back.

"Oh Weiss one day you'll learn how wrong you are, beside I drink milk so I'm fine."

"But what does Milk have to do with anything?" Weiss asked incredulously and soon they devolved into the health benefits and cost of milk with cookies. Pyrrha eyed Blake as she silently picked at her fish, and set her spoon down.

"Blake I just want to let you know that Jaune is sorry about what happened yesterday." This brought conversation at the table to a halt once more.

"It's okay Pyrrha, I understand why Jaune said those things, and I goaded him into saying things he wouldn't have said." Blake said solemnly.

"Well about that I think those were his actually thoughts but he didn't mean to be cruel about it, he's just worried that you're going into something that you don't actually understand and that's going to get both you and others hurt." Blake shot a glare at Pyrrha, but didn't say anything; she didn't have the strength in her to worry about the others, the lack of sleep catching up to her as she studies the movements of the White Fang through the news and media.

"He's not wrong you know." Weiss said stepping in on behalf of team RWBY, this drew confusion from the others, it was no secret at the disdain that Weiss had for him, while she may now tolerate him as an acquaintance they were by no means friends.

" _Wiess-_ cream isn't wrong, Jaune made some very valid points about what we're doing yesterday, along with passing some rather shocking news." Yang said a solemn look had taken hold of her face; both of her hands were balled up under her chin.

"What do you mean?" Ren asked from across the table, the three members of JNPR excluding their leader were unaware of what Jaune knew that was of important news for Yang.

"He said to look at a particular club in Vale and there's only one reason why he would say that, it would be Junior's club we visited on that night before Blake and Sun called for help against Torchwick." Yang said, they all could hear her knuckles cracking as she clenched hard before releasing her hands to pull out her scroll and open it to a news article and placed it on the table. Ren reached out and took the scroll reading the article before his mouth and eyes opened up, he passed it to Pyrrha who read it and was also shocked.

"They all died? No reliable witnesses and no footage, the moment the attack started the security system malfunctioned and shut down, the few people who had apparently escaped when the attack started were found in gibbering incoherent states of insanity. Why would Jaune tell you to look for this?" Pyrrha asked, Yang just shook her head, and the mood around the table quieted. That was until Cardin showed up, and took a long look at all the face there.

"What is getting in put in charge of the Dance really that bad?" He asked clear confusion on his face, everyone looked amongst themselves before internally agreeing to find something lighter to focus on. Soon Yang and Weiss devolved into a discussion on what kind of music they should have, while Ruby demanded that they served cookies and chocolate covered strawberries, the rest of their breakfast once more was over taken with the vigor of youth and innocence.

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Pyrrha ducked and rolled under Jaune's swing with Crocea Mors and lashed out with her legs hooking them around his ankles and pulling him off his feet. She rolled to the side once more and jumped to her feet ready to finish the round. Jaune however wasn't going to give up just yet he rolled backwards using the fall as momentum and scrambled back to his feet his sword held out, his stance wide and low to the ground.

Pyrrha smiled, and could feel a little sweat start to form on her forehead; Jaune had improved remarkably over the two weeks. He charged and stabbed forth at Pyrrha but she sidestepped it and she saw Jaune's waist turn left and his leg lash out to catch her legs also but she wouldn't fall for a trick like that and let Miló go and caught it with her hands. Much to her chagrin Jaune was getting stronger as the days went by and the force of the kick was still enough to send her sliding back a few feet.

Jaune watched as she took hold of his leg and the next thing he knew he was laying on the ground, his chest hurt a lot and Pyrrha was crouched next to him.

"Jaune I'm so sorry!" She said and Jaune couldn't help but smile as he thought about beautiful she looked with the green light of Beacon's tower shining in the background. Though his smiled dropped when he noticed that she also appeared to have tears starting to form in her eyes as she looked at him the worry was evident in her face.

"Pyrrha, Pyrrha, please calm down I'm fine, maybe a bit sore but I guess I deserve it for trying to pull that lame trick on you." He said forcing a laugh out in hopes of cheering her up, it appeared to work as she sniffed slightly and smiled at him.

"Please Jaune it was very ambitious of you to try, I'm sure it would have worked."

"What you really mean is, worked on someone that isn't me." Jaune said as he probed her side with his elbow a smile wide on his face. She laughed softly at that and stood up a hand held out to him, he grabbed her hand and was pulled up, she never believes him whenever he said how strong she was but she never had to fight herself.

They walked to wall where they had set their stuff against chatting about class and team RWBY's response to him yesterday. Jaune did feel bad about how he delivered his message but the general contents of it were what he wanted to discuss with them. He felt that Blake was fool in her actions in hunting the White Fang and dragging others into it was going to get someone seriously hurt or worse.

"So Jaune, the dance is coming up soon, you thinking about taking anyone?" Pyrrha asked out of the blue, Jaune nearly spat out his water when she asked him.

"What?" He asked as he cleared his throat.

"I'm asking if you're going to the dance with anyone" Jaune scratched the back of his head and thought about it for a second.

"No not really, well no as in I'm not going with anyone but I'll be there nonetheless, figured I could apologize with team RWBY and just chat with people." Jaune said as he took another gulp of water, and closed his eyes sighing contently at the cool contents of the bottle. Though had his eyes been open he would have no doubt seen that Pyrrha's face was a mixture of excitement, hope, and anxiety.

"So what about you Pyrrha? Probably have tons of guys lining up to ask you out?" Jaune asked as he started to pack his stuff up, once more he missed Pyrrha's face fall dejectedly at that question once more realizing that he hasn't picked up that she liked him.

"A-Ah well you know how it is." She stammered slightly, though she could feel an empty hollowness in her stomach start to emerge.

"Man I envy whatever guy you pick Pyrrha, he'd be so lucky to be with you almost like how we're partners now." Jaune said nonchalantly, his back still turned to Pyrrha and a gentle squeeze now gripped her heart at what he said. She turned around to look out over the school grounds when Jaune looked over his shoulder.

"I wouldn't be so sure there Jaune." Jaune chuckled slightly.

"Please if no one takes you to the dance I'll wear a dress." Pyrrha smiled at that a quiet giggle escaping her lips but once more the realization that Jaune didn't think it was possible to go out with you plain to see. Jaune picked up his bag and noticed that Pyrrha had yet to put her stuff away.

"Are you coming Pyrrha?"

"No I'll be along in a moment why don't you go on ahead of me." She said, hoping that he'd stay and at the same time hoping that he wouldn't, that way he wouldn't see how she no doubt looked, bottom lip quivering and tears forming in her eyes.

Jaune watched Pyrrha stand there looking out into the night sky above the school, her beautiful red hair swaying slightly in the wind and even with her combat gear on Jaune could say that she was breathtaking. However he knew that he was no good for her, when she asked if he was going to the dance with anyone he secretly hoped that she would ask him but he knew that she probably didn't see him more than just a friend.

* * *

 **Two Days Later…**

Jaune looked at himself in the mirror; he had to admit the suit that his aunt Sanian bought him was really nice. He wore black trousers with a white shirt tucked into his waist, a gold vest was on top, he slipped on a black jacket with golden thread lining the opening and the buttons were also gold. In the breast pocket was a golden handkerchief with white edges in a Dunaway fold.

As he stepped out of the bathroom Ren stood by the door with a pocket watch in hand which he promptly shut with a click as Jaune came up to him.

"Ready to go?" He asked and Jaune smiled and wrapped his arm around Ren.

"Ya know Ren I've never said this but you're a really good friend, you may not talk much but whenever you do it's always helpful, what I'm trying to say is, well, you're like a brother to me." Jaune said as they stepped out of their room. Ren shut the door behind them nodded to Jaune.

"You too Jaune."

As they walked out of the dorm building they talked about what sort of missions they could get next week, Jaune hoped they didn't get lumped with something boring because of him. Ren told him that he doubt that would happen Jaune also seemed to forget that despite doing poorly in combat class, which Pyrrha always said that once he wins a match he'll be able to win more, that he was doing generally pretty good at everything else.

"Say Jaune, do you know if Pyrrha has a date for tonight?" Jaune tilted his head to the side a little his eyes scrunching up as he thought about it.

"No but I'm sure that she probably will have to beat all the guys away with Nora's hammer to get some breathing room." Jaune chuckled softly, though he could feel his stomach clench at the idea of someone else dancing with her.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Ren said breaking Jaune out of his thoughts, and he was about to ask what he meant when Sun called out to them.

"Jaune! Ren! Over here!" The blond monkey jumped up and down, he surprisingly enough had the decency to button his shirt most of the way up, though he didn't have anything underneath, but he did have a tie on. His pants however were ultimately the same except for the fact that they were darker in color. What threw Jaune in a loop was the fact that Neptune something, he had really hard last name, was standing next to Weiss who was wearing a white dress, and Blake who wore a purple and black dress was with Sun.

"Ha, you clean up nice there Sun." Jaune said as he bumped his fist with Sun, who smiled back his tail wagging in the back.

"Ah you know me nothing but fancy dressing for this guy." Blake rolled her eyes though Jaune noted that she was actually smiling a little, Neptune started a fake cough that masked the word liar, Weiss swatted his arm but soon everyone was laughing at various volumes, Ren and Blake were just silent with smiles on their faces. Ren excused himself from the group so he could go find Nora; Weiss elbowed Jaune to get his attention.

"Yea Weiss?"

"Why aren't you with Pyrrha right now?" Jaune raised an eyebrow in question, she rolled her eyes.

"You are here with Pyrrha aren't you?"

"Well she's technically with Nora actually last I saw." Jaune started to say but Weiss interrupted him again with an annoyed sigh.

"No you dunce I mean as a date!"

"What?! You're crazy, why would Pyrrha come here as my date?" Jaune asked genuine confusion on his face, why was Weiss asking him this?

"Wait you turned her down?" Blake asked upon hearing his response, and Jaune looked around to see that Sun and Neptune also were staring at him, incredulous looks on their faces. Jaune opened the doors to the ballroom to see Yang standing with her hands on her hips behind a podium, she kind of looked mad at him. She stormed up to him and grabbed his arm yanking him lower to her eye level.

"Why aren't you with Pyrrha?" She asked, a furious look on her face, and struggled to pry her hand off him.

"Seriously why is everyone asking me this? All she did was ask me if I was going to the dance with anyone, I said no and then I told her that whoever she was planning to go with would be lucky." Jaune looked around to see that everyone was looking at him like he was an idiot.

"Seriously that's all she asked, how come everyone is getting so worked up about it!" He said tossing up hands up and walking away. Everyone watched Jaune walk away to go and mingle amongst the crowd.

"Welp it looks like either I'm gonna win this or Jaune's mom is." Yang said as she crossed her arms watching the oblivious boy go to the punch bowl and stand awkwardly next to Ruby.

"Yang this is serious, Pyrrha looked so sad earlier." Blake said as the group made its way towards a table so they could sit down, Sun held a chair out for Blake but she instead had him sit in it while she tucked him in before sitting next to him. Neptune did the same thing but Weiss didn't force him into a chair but graciously accepted it instead.

"Yea, well that could be Ruby at this moment also, if anything Pyrrha's got a better chance of getting together with the dunce and Ruby will be the one hurting." Weiss said as she took a sip of water from a cup, looking at her team leader as she chatted with Jaune. She looked so happy to talk with him while he looked completely distracted as he slowly scanned the ballroom no doubt looking for a certain person. Everyone silently nodded at this, Yang felt upset that Jaune was possibly going to hurt her little sister but she couldn't force the guy to like her in that matter at the same time.

"What are you kids doing sitting around here, you should be enjoying yourselves." The voice of Sanian appeared as she came up to them, she was dressed in a white dress, a slit opened up from the left side of her waist down with a black sash around her waist. Next to her was Brin, who wore a simple black and white three piece tuxedo with a red bowtie.

"We're just talking about a mutual interest of ours and his relationships." Weiss said as she stood to great Sanian, who hugged her, which Weiss awkwardly gave back.

"Ah is my young nephew finally realizing his feelings for Pyrrha?" She asked a small smile appearing on her face, Brin just rolled his eyes as he held out a seat for her.

"Technically the night is still young, it seems he's in a roundabout way rejected Pyrrha's offer to go to the dance with her, and Ruby on the other hand seems to no longer be making any head way." Blake said Sanian narrowed her eyes a little at hearing that.

"It is a shame if Jaune broke the hearts of two young maidens tonight but ultimately this is something only he can realize and work on himself, so I suggest the rest of you kids to instead of focusing on your friends relationship just enjoy the night, if I recall you all get your first missions Monday." Brin said coolly, soon enough Sanian and Brin watched as the teens broke away to mingle and dance amongst themselves enjoying their night.

Jaune stood next to Ruby as she talked about her home on some island called Patch, he had to admit the name was really cool but he couldn't really focus on what she was saying. Everyone questioning him about why he wasn't with Pyrrha was driving him insane. He wanted to tell them that he would have loved to come with her to the dance but she didn't show him any interest. All she did was ask if he was going with anyone.

That's when it hit him, why did she specifically ask if he was going with someone, not going in general but with another person?

"Jaune?" Ruby was standing in front of him looking up at him with her silver eyes, concern etched across her face, Jaune catch a glimpse of red in the corner of his eye and he saw what looked to be Pyrrha heading upstairs to the second floor, only to disappear into a doorway leading who knows where.

"Hold my punch." He said as he held out his cup to Ruby, who just took it totally confusion on her face, as she watched Jaune head up the stairs, she stared at his cup and put her mouth where his was and took a sip. She flushed red and smiled to herself that was kind of like an indirect kiss, one step closer.

Jaune walked up the stairs, he knew he saw Pyrrha up going up there; he needed to speak with her. He went through the same doorway that she had gone through and he looked left and right, there was nothing but an empty corridor. He went to his right and walked briskly, the sound of his shoes hitting the marble floor clicking loudly. He saw an open door that led to the outside and peaked around it, there he saw her.

Pyrrha stood with her arms crossed looked out into the night sky; the shattered moon was behind Beacon tower. She had her ever present circlet but instead of her uniform or standard outfit she now wore a red satin dress that split mid-thigh down to her heels. Jaune could feel his heart beat faster as he watched her from the doorway, however something was off about her, she normally would have noticed him by now standing there but instead she still looked out into the night, she seemed lonely.

"Hey Pyrrha." He called out as he walked out from behind the door, she turned to face him and Jaune could see that something was definitely wrong, she didn't look to have an ounce of happiness in her, if anything she looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Hello Jaune."

"Are you okay Pyrrha, I haven't seen you all day." She shut her eyes for a brief moment and turned away once more.

"Just busy, I'm afraid." There was something about her choice of words that started to ring alarm bells he wasn't sure why but there was more to that statement that he knew of.

"You…You look really nice." He could see that the corner of her mouth turned up in a smile and even in the dim light of the balcony he swore her cheek turned slightly red.

"Thank you Jaune, you look handsome yourself tonight."

"Ah well I had some help from my aunt, she knows how bad I am with fashionable clothing but I hope your date doesn't beat me up for saying that." Pyrrha giggled softly at that but Jaune could still see that something was really off; it looked like Pyrrha was hiding something.

"I think you're fine Jaune."

"So where is the lucky guy?" Jaune asked, looking back to see if some handsome, suave, muscle-bound dude was about to walk out onto the balcony with them.

"There is no guy." Jaune started to chuckle but turned to face him and it died in his throat, he could see the distraught look on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Nobody asked me."

"That…that's crazy you're Pyrrha Nikos, you should have a line of guy's hell even some girls lining up to be with you." Jaune said, this was getting crazy how could anyone not ask her out, she was kind, smart, funny, and mind-numbingly beautiful, she always looked out for her friends and always tried to do the right thing, she was perfect. She turned away once more to look out into the distant night, an expression filled with long hidden pain and regrets appeared on her face.

"I've been blessed with incredible talent and opportunities, showered with love and praise for a long time, but Jaune when someone is revered for so long for being so talented people start to think that they're too good for them. That they're on a level of which that they could never obtain, so ultimately I've been abandoned by the very people who've helped me get where I am today but not out of hate or disdain but out of misunderstanding, so now it's gotten to the point where I've never had any friends or was able to make any meaningful relationship, at least until I met you, and that's why I like you Jaune. You didn't even know who I was but you already had done something for me that no one else has, you treated me like a normal girl, you helped me gain friendships that will last a lifetime, ultimately if I had to be with someone tonight, it would be you Jaune." Jaune stood there stunned, he didn't know what to say, he watched wordlessly as Pyrrha walked away from him, heading back inside, and he stood there look out into the sky, he didn't know what to do.

"So you gonna go after her?" The voice of Alexander Arc came from behind him, and Jaune turned to see his father with his arms crossed, he was wearing a black suit with white trimmings on the edges, a white vest underneath could be seen underneath the jacket, covering a black collared shirt and white bowtie.

"What?"

"Jaune stop thinking so much and act, there are times when a man should think and times when he should act." Jaune stood there for a moment and finally decided on his next move.

"I need a dress." Jaune walked off the balcony and Alexander looked at the receding back of his son.

"A dress?"

The member of team JNPR and RWBY looked out and mingled amongst the crowd of the ballroom the night was going well and surely for them it was something that they would never forget and will always have a place in their hearts. However no one expected to see a certain blond boy who despite looking devilishly handsome body was now wearing a white dress that barely reached mid-thigh and had a purple sash tied around his waist come out from behind the stairs.

Laughter started to emerge all around the ballroom as they watched the hilarious sight of Jaune Arc walk up to Pyrrha Nikos, who upon turning around broke down laughing the hardest she had in years.

"Jaune! You didn't actually have to wear a dress!" He smiled as shrugged.

"Ah well a promise is a promise." Pyrrha smiled as she fought to wipe the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"An Arc never goes back on his word?" Jaune smiled as he held out his hand, she reached out, and he pulled her towards him, pressing her body against his.

"Now do you want to dance or what?" Soon the ballroom cheered as they watched team JNPR somehow pull an impromptu dance routine, with Jaune being the best dancer of them all, easily twirling and dipping Pyrrha low as they danced together.

"I had no idea you were such a good dancer!" She said happiness flooding every part of her body as she danced with him.

"Ah well you pick these kinds of things up when you grow up with seven sisters." Pyrrha normally would have been shocked to hear that he had seven sisters, but at that moment she was too enamored with dancing with him.

Ruby however saw that her chance had slipped away, and despite how she wanted to go and interrupt them she knew that wouldn't help her in anyway. So she left to go and wonder the ground of Beacon hoping for anything to distract her from the pain in her chest.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Jaune waited once more in the elevator that led to Ozpin's office, he wasn't surprised at being called up once more, no doubt anything that involved the Arc's would no doubt mean that he would be informed. What confused him though was the fact that his team was with him also. Pyrrha leaned over slightly next to him.

"Jaune do you know what's going on?" She asked, for a second he was distracted by how close her face was to him but he cleared his throat.

"I honestly have no idea." There was a ding and the elevator opened up to reveal Ruby standing in front of it, behind her Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch, General Ironwood, and his father were standing by Ozpin's desk.

"Oh hey Ruby! Did you get in trouble also?" Nora asked curiosity plain on her face as she tilted her head to the side to inspect the young team leader.

"What? Me? In trouble? Please I'm not Yang." Ruby laughed and Jaune could see that she was eyeing him and Pyrrha rather intently. She stepped into the elevator and continued to watch him, there was something off about how she looked but Jaune couldn't put his finger on it.

"Jaune would you please have your team take a seat." His father said as he arranged four chairs in front of Ozpin's desk. Everyone carefully took seats; Jaune sat on the farthest right with Pyrrha to his left followed by Nora and Ren at the other end.

"So you must all be wondering why we've called you here, and I'll cut right to the chase, it's about the missions tomorrow, I would like to offer you all one today instead." Alexander said with his arms crossed as he leaned against Ozpin's desk, Ozpin just so happened to be sitting in his own seat looking out the window seemingly ignoring them.

"What sort of mission?" Jaune asked, this was highly unusual he didn't think his father would interfere with the ongoing business of the Academy.

"A rather simple mission really, I would like to have you accompany a squad to go and deliver supplies to a settlement outside of Vale." He said, Jaune looked carefully at the others around, Goodwitch seemed slightly annoyed but that was rather a common look for her but Ironwood looked rather annoyed also and from what Jaune could guess from his interactions with Weiss and Atlas students that means someone's being snubbed.

"That's not all is it?" Ren asked out of the blue, Alexander raised an eyebrow and looked impassively at him.

"No there's much more than meets the eye but for now until Jaune decides to take the mission nothing more is needed to be said." Everyone looked at him and he thought about it, and looked to his teammates.

"I think we should hear him out Jaune." Pyrrha said, Nora and Ren both nodded there agreements and Jaune looked at his father once more but he raised his hand to stop him from saying anything.

"Jaune I figured I should say this now but if you accept this, we're going to have to illuminate your team about some things, things that you may encounter on this mission." Jaune felt himself go cold, not necessarily at the fact of telling them the secret knowledge but the prospect of actually facing one of those dreaded creatures. He had read the report given by the Sisterhood squad that was sent to accompany the Vale police at Junior's Club anything that could cause that sort of carnage isn't something to be trifled with.

Jaune turned to face his team once more, all three watched him intently, and Jaune could see that each pair of eyes on him held the utmost trust in him, he sighed.

"Alright team, if you're really interested in what my father has in store for us we're going to need to have a long chat about some stuff and if you wanna back out afterwards I totally will understand we can refuse the mission." The last bit he looked towards his father who nodded in return.

"Ah you worry too much Fearless Leader, we'll follow all the way and if anything comes along that scares you we'll break its legs!" Nora said as she hopped up onto the chair and raised her fists, Ren just smiled and nodded at Jaune.

"Jaune your team will follow you anywhere." Pyrrha said placing her hand on his leg; Jaune could feel his face heat up a little and saw his father smile at that, though he shivered immediately as if a cold air blasted him from somewhere.

* * *

 **Later That Night…**

Jaune sat at the foot of his bed watching as his team each packed their bags. Well Ren was packing his and Nora's because the hammer wielder was asleep on her bed. Pyrrha was going over her stuff that she wanted to take with her on their mission, though she couldn't help but watch Jaune and think of the wonderful night of dancing with him. Though she wasn't sure where that left them, did he like her and if he did does that mean they're technically seeing each other?

Pyrrha's train of thought was interrupted as she realized that she had nearly set out several pairs of lacy undergarments on her bed in front of Jaune. She turned crimson and quickly shoved them into her bag, Jaune who was watching Ren struggle to figure out how Nora had tied her bag to his while his back was turned missed what Pyrrha had done but turned to see how red she was.

"What's up Pyr? You look nervous."

"O-O-Oh yea it's just so exciting to finally head out on our first mission together that's all." Jaune frowned slightly at that, as much as he didn't want his team to be too worried the number preventable cause of death in their line of work was relaxation. You could be the most skilled fighter in the room but if you're relax to the point that you're caught off guard completely that could easily spell the end for you and others.

"Pyrrha remember what my father told you today, while the mission shouldn't be dangerous considering that we're going to a rather well guarded town that's supported by my family, things can still go terrible wrong especially if we encounter creatures of the Immaterium." Pyrrha turned solemn at what Jaune said; it was a bit difficult to get her head around what Mr. Arc had told them but at the same time something about it was very thrilling.

"Jaune I understand that you're worried for us but we're also tagging along with a squad of professional soldiers, I think we'll be okay." Pyrrha said as she finished packing away her bag, Ren who had finished setting his bag alongside Nora's by the door.

"Jaune you know what it is we're facing better than us plus you're smarter than you realize I have no doubt that you'll get us through this mission without a hitch."

"Go Fearless leader!" Nora cheered from her bed, though she apparently went right back to sleep after she said that, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren all laughed. Soon enough Ren went off to his bed and fell into his peculiar sleep of lying completely still. Jaune and Pyrrha both sat on their beds facing each other; nothing was said as they looked at each other.

"About the dance." Jaune was the first to break the silence, Pyrrha looked him in the eyes her full attention on him.

"What about it?"

"So about what you said to me…" Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head, he really didn't know what the hell he was saying. Pyrrha on the other hand was squealing with joy and panicking on the inside, was he rejecting her or was he accepting her feelings?

"Yes Jaune?"

"So you like me? Like as in like like? As in the big super like sort of Like?" Pyrrha nodded slowly a smile creeping onto her face, she liked where this is going.

"Yes Jaune I like you, a lot." Jaune was now in full panic, Pyrrha likes him? Shit what was he supposed to do now?

"Do you like me back Jaune?" Pyrrha asked shyly, once more waves of trepidation going through as she asked.

"Yes." He said instantly, he did like her a lot, and if anything now would probably be a good time to listen to his father's advice once more like during the dance.

"I like you a lot Pyrrha, and I hope we can get closer to each other from now on beyond just being friends." Pyrrha smiled widely and that was the second time that he's seen Pyrrha smile so happily the first being when they danced together last night.

"So are we?" Jaune started to ask, Pyrrha spoke up.

"Together Together? I would say so." Both teens smiled at each other, in a moment of boldness Jaune sat next to Pyrrha and took her hand in his.

It was both warm and smooth but he could feel an indomitable strength in them mixed with a kind nurturing characteristic that he's come to know of her. Pyrrha felt warmth in Jaune's hands, and the roughness of his skin but it surprisingly wasn't unpleasant but rather comforting, she could feel gentleness in them so much like Jaune's nature. Jaune looked into her iridescent green eyes, they were beautiful and enchanting, and he felt he could look forever into them.

For Pyrrha looking into Jaune's eyes was like looking into an ocean, the depth of his eyes was both cool and comforting, he leaned closer and did something that she didn't expect and kissed her on the cheek, and it was like a flow of energy went through her, both warm and stimulating. Jaune went red in the face and stood up heading back into his bed.

"Good night Pyrrha." He squeaked as he pulled his covers over his face. Pyrrha just touched her cheek and smiled, and would continue to smile even as she went to sleep.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

They woke up as they normally did, Jaune went first, followed by Ren, with Pyrrha coming next, with Nora last as usual, Jaune always waited to wake her up last to give Ren a chance to prepare himself for the day. However that morning a newfound sense of energy overtook them all, it was their first mission, a mission that they were technically handpicked to do.

They met team RWBY in the cafeteria as usual and ate their breakfast. Ren had rice, with salmon and eggs along with a cup of hot tea. Pyrrha had a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top and a cup of orange juice. Nora had a stack of pancakes covered in syrup, and pretty much was it. Jaune had his usual plate of hash browns, eggs and extra helping of bacon, a cup of milk on the side.

"Something seems off with you two." Yang said as she sat down, a plate similar to Jaune's but she had a couple of slices of thick ham on her plate.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked and she nonchalantly ate her oatmeal, Blake and Weiss who sat next also eyed Pyrrha trying to guess what's going on.

"Yang's right, you seem…happier." Blake said as she drank her milk, Pyrrha shrugged at she took a sip from her orange juice.

"Oh myyyyyyy does momma Coco smell young love in the air?" Came a voice from their right and they turned to see Coco Adel standing with one hand on her hip and her designer sunglasses over her nose looking at Pyrrha and Jaune.

"Please say that you just won momma a bunch of money." Coco said as she moved around to wrap her arms around Pyrrha and Jaune.

"Uh Pyrrha, what's she talking about?" Jaune asked genuinely confused on what she was talking about, Pyrrha just smiled shyly and shrugged. Yang slammed her hand to her face and groaned Weiss rubbed her temple as Blake gave them a happy smile as she held out her hands as if waiting for something. Nora gave Coco a high five, even team CRDL came over to see what the commotion was, and Nora whispered something in Cardin's ear and they started to celebrate also.

Across the table Jaune could see Brin and Sanian smile and nod to him, and he just tilted his head to the side. Soon he was surrounded by people talking animatedly. A random upper classman came in that Jaune didn't know ask Yang what was going on and Jaune saw that she slipped some Lien into his hand and whisper into his ear, he took off running.

"Pyrrha seriously what is going on?" He said turning to his partner, but Coco stepped in.

"Oh Jaune don't worry your head over it, Pyrrha here just won the biggest bet of the year." That's when it clicked and the realization dawned on his face.

"Wait you guys bet whether or not me and Pyrrha were going to get together?" Everyone kind of stopped when Jaune asked that aloud but it wasn't to what he said but the fact that another person had entered the mix. Jaune turned to see Saul in his purple armor standing over everyone even Yatsuhashi.

"Jaune it is time." He said simple and turned around, walking away, Weiss looked at Jaune.

"Wait what does he mean? Time for what?" Nora snapped her fingers catching their attention.

"Oh yea! We haven't told you guys yet that Jaune's dad gave us a special mission outside the Kingdom." Sun and Neptune popped up from behind Blake, who instinctually elbowed Sun in his stomach and went to apologize as he flopped to the floor.

"Wait you're going on special missions without us? Traitors!" Neptune pointed accusingly, but Nora ignored him and Jaune shrugged before realizing something.

"Hey where's Ruby?" Conversation stopped at the table at his question, no one wanted to tell him the truth except Yang who despite being happy for Pyrrha was mad that Jaune has now broken Ruby's heart. Though just as he didn't know Pyrrha liked him for the longest of time he didn't know Ruby liked him either so was he really to blame? She wasn't sure so instead she opted to keep quiet against her better nature.

"Jaune we should go…" Pyrrha said as she placed a hand on his arm and he nodded, curious about why everyone stopped when he asked about Ruby. Unbeknownst to them Ruby Rose stood in the far corner of the cafeteria watching Pyrrha and Jaune. She could feel a sharp pain in her chest boil into anger as she watched Pyrrha touch Jaune, she didn't know why but she felt angrier than she has ever felt before and all of it was focused on Pyrrha Nikos.

As Jaune led his team out to the landing pads of Beacon he once again could see Saul standing on a landing pad, behind him a few dozen Beacon maintenance staff members were pushing crates onto Bullheads and fastening them to the floor of the crafts.

Next to Saul was ten men and women lined up, all fully geared up with their Agripinaa rifles shouldered as they stood at attention.

"Oh I hope they aren't going to be a bunch of stick in the muds." Nora whined from behind him, and he shook his head grinning as they walked closer to Saul.

"Hey Saul, you coming along with us?" The giant nodded.

"Indeed I am Jaune, since you are still technically doing a school assignment I offered my services to act as your supervisor and will give you your evaluation after the mission." Jaune nodded in understanding and walked in front of the first person closest to Saul and extended his hand.

"Jaune Arc, pleasure to be working with you on this mission." He said with a smile though he couldn't see the person's face because of the full faced helmet, however they did take his hand and a feminine voice came out.

"Pleasure to be working with you Mr. Arc."

"Please call me Jaune, Mr. Arc is my father." The woman laughed, and reached up, pulling her helmet off, and revealed a youthful face of a woman with light brown skin, brown eyes, and black shoulder length hair. Saul cleared his throat slightly to gain Jaune's attention once more before speaking.

"This is Sergeant First Class Alicia Gormez, 2nd Platoon, 3rd Company, 1st Battalion of the 7th Light Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, reporting for duty."

"I'm also single." She said with a wink at Ren, Nora stepped in front of him and crossed her arms; she shrugged before giving Jaune a wink also. Jaune could practically feel the burning glare that Pyrrha was giving him boring into the back of his head; he wondered if he put up his hood would it catch on fire?

"Anyways, the mission is to deliver these supplies and make a full report on the current infrastructure of the town of Leflore along with an report on current supplies and population census along with taking any requests that they for us, the mission as it currently stands if we exclude travel time will take about three days, after we arrive back here I will submit your evaluation and may I remind your Jaune that I will not be taking our friendship into account, if you do not try your best I will grade you accordingly." Saul said as he looked slowly at everyone before.

"Now get on the Bullhead we have a seven hour flight before reaching Leflore." Jaune paled as he heard those words, and Pyrrha placed her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Ren placed his hand on his other shoulder before handing him something; Jaune looked down and realized that it was a garbage bag.

"Crap…"

* * *

 **Hello Everyone hope you like this Chapter and yes let's get this out of the way, Arkos is the First Official Pairing of this FanFic, and technically Black Sun and Iceberg are also.**

 **Anyways I'mma address a few things quickly the Agrippinaa in this essentially the G3A3, so yea Google that if you don't know what it looks like, and the heavy stubber is essentially the M2 Browning.**

 **Now for some 40k science**

 **This is for the sake of all the non 40k fans out there, the Bolter or Boltgun is essentially a .50 caliber assault rifle but instead of a .50 caliber round it's actually a .75 caliber or a 19.05mm round (or bolt) that goes through various stages when fired, first is the initial propellant stage that you guessed it propels the bolt like any modern day firearm, afterwards a secondary propellant is ignited within the bolt that gives it a nice boost for additional range like one would see in modern day rocket launchers the basic intention of doing this is for the bolt round to penetrate armor and after it penetrates the bolt explodes within the target upon hitting a significant amount of mass that often leads to a mess, and even if it doesn't do that getting hit by a bolt round is effectively going to kill you nonetheless.**

 **That's enough science shit for now**

 **Also yes it's _that_ Saul **

**Anyways leave a comment or review or hell even PM me.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Jaune pressed his head into the palm of his hands, the battle that was going on in his stomach made him want to jump out of the Bullhead. Sadly he wouldn't be able to make it to the exit before someone like Nora, Pyrrha, or worst of all, Saul, tackled him to the floor.

Though he did have the garbage bag that Ren gave him, he wasn't sure if it was his way of predicting how much Jaune might vomit or some weird way of teasing him. Jaune didn't really care mostly because he was more focused on keeping the room from spinning too much. Thankfully Pyrrha the wonderful partner that she was had stuck close to Jaune despite the possibility of vomit and was rubbing soft circles on his back which kind of helped but nothing could really win against his stomach's desire to kill him.

"Jaune you know it's totally fine to be motion sick." Pyrrha said softly next to him, he whined.

"It's not motion…sickness…its air sickness…gaaaaaaaaah." Pyrrha just smiled while Nora laughed in the back of the Bullhead as she listened to Jaune.

"Don't worry Jaune Jaune, when we kick ass on this mission no one is going to remember how you filled a garbage bag with vomit." She said swinging her legs back and forth, most of the occupants of the compartment laughed, except for Saul and Ren.

"Nora whyyyyyy…" Jaune groaned from between his legs, a quick glance at his wrist watch showing it was only an hour into their flight.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

* * *

 **Six Hours Later…**

"Ground! Sweet merciful ground!" Jaune cried out as he stumbled from the Bullhead and kneeled on the cold cement of Leflore's main landing pads. Some of the nearby by ground crews laughed at the sight of the young blond kissing and crying out declaration of love for the ground.

Pyrrha stepped down from the Bullhead and stretching her arms over her head, the pops and cracks of her back were a welcome relief after being stuck in a Bullhead for so long. Looking around she got her first glance of Leflore.

Surprisingly enough the landing pads were surround by grasslands, behind her to the west she could see walls roughly fifteen meters high, it was a bit difficult to accurately tell their height from distance if she had to guess they were at least four or five miles away.

To the north and east she could see the more empty grasslands stretching out for miles in either direction, walls barely visible from where she stood.

To the south she could see a scattering of houses, mostly farms and a small cluster of buildings and near the horizon she could see the taller buildings of what she assumed was the heart of Leflore.

A column of dirt was being kicked up from the south heading towards them; Pyrrha assumed that must be the town officials coming out to greet them.

"You seem a little off there Ms. Nikos." The deep voice of Saul came from behind her, the thud and whine of his armor giving him away allowing her to not have to turn around.

"It's just so big; I always figured that the Outland settlements were forced to cover a small territory because of the Grimm."

"That is true, originally the walls you see were placed directly outside of the town limits but over a long period of time and growth of the population the town's council in junction with Arcadia decided to slowly start expanding, thus the Arc Family gave the task over to the Arcadian Military to handle the expansion, and while it was slow, taking over a decade to complete the expansion of the walls was complete, ever since then the town of Leflore has slowly started expanding its residence onto these lands." Pyrrha looked back at the giant with awe on her face, for a Kingdom to devote such time and effort for a settlement was remarkable.

"But would the issue of having the population spread out mean that sooner or later the walls would need to be expanded again?" Ren asked as he shouldered his pack, Nora had her hands behind her head curiosity also etched on her face.

"True but you overestimate the willingness of people to expand outwards in that fashion, tell me young Ren do you see a significant amount of people or homes around this area?" Saul asked looked at the green gunman, a purple gauntlet gesturing to the grassland.

"I do see a few homes but to guess from what you're alluding too, people must be hesitant to come flocking out here for space and be so close to the relatively new walls." Saul's aged visage cracked a little in humor.

"I'm glad to see that young Jaune has such intelligent teammates by his side."

"We're just as blessed to have such an intelligent and caring leader such as Jaune." Pyrrha said as she drew herself back into the conversation.

"Ah you are indeed a very polite, young Nikos." Pyrrha bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement.

"To get back to the topic at hand, it's a very common thing for people to want to avoid being close to the edge, you can see that even in Vale or the other major Kingdoms, that people have instead looked to the sky, the Kingdoms now have set forth numerous plans to being construction of taller and bigger buildings in an effort to house more people while not expanding out but up."

"Which if you ask me is just as problematic; the Grimm can still technically reach us in the air, and for complex management of supposedly constructing buildings with so many floors there's going to be issues of the practicality of emergency services and infrastructure but enough of the chit chat, we've got a mission to do, Saul what's our objective." Jaune said as he walked over, his bag was slung over his shoulder, Crocea Mors at his waist and his scroll in hand.

"Well your job for this mission team JNPR is to review the records of the council, tour the walls, make a report of future projects and the status of any undertaking the town is going through, aside from that there really isn't anything for you to do."

"So we're mostly doing logistical work?" Nora asked with an obvious sign of displeasure at the thought of doing nothing but paperwork.

"Nora not everything we do as Hunters is just going to be about killing Grimm and fighting crime." Jaune said a patient smile touching his lips, Nora sighed.

"But that's the best paaaaaaart." Jaune and Pyrrha laughed as Ren placed a hand over his face.

"Alright how about this, Nora you can inspect the walls and fortifications, do a thorough job and I'll make you pancakes myself, Ren you head to the Administration Building and go over the recent reports of the city logistics mark down anything you need clarification on or discrepancies, Pyrrha you can either go help Ren or Nora." Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at that.

"What are you going to be doing?" Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Well I'm most going to be talking with Town Officials, the media, and whoever is in charge of the garrison here, so I figured you probably wouldn't want to risk people getting over excited at you being here and start crowding you the entire time until we leave." Pyrrha blinked and could feel a little heat rising to her cheeks; of course he would be looking out for her like that.

After the dance Pyrrha had explained in more detail about how tiresome it was to always be dealing with the media wherever she went. It also explained to Jaune why she also didn't like going to Vale as much as him, though he didn't like it because of the air sickness, she didn't like having her life being seen only as a show for others.

"Still we are partners Jaune we should stick together." Pyrrha said a small frown on her face; she really didn't want to potentially get swarmed by a bunch of fans, but leaving Jaune to do all the talking just because she didn't want to risk having to deal with fans wasn't fair. At that moment Alicia Gormez walked up to the group, once more her helmet was clutched in the crook of her arm, her Agripinaa rifle slung over her shoulder.

"I wouldn't mind taking going with Ms. Valkyrie, she isn't exactly used to some of the standard field equipment that we have out there, so it would be beneficial for me to go and at least give some detail."

"And I'm sure Pyrrha would rather stick close to you and keep you from putting your foot in your mouth." Ren spoke up; Jaune just looked him and raised an eyebrow.

"When the heck did you get so chatty."

"I've always been like this, you just never noticed."

"Seriously?"

"No." Jaune just shook his head in confusion that was when they heard the noise of multiple engines, Ren, Nora and Pyrrha all looked to see Bullheads coming to meet them. Instead they were greeted with a column of bulky vehicles.

The first two vehicles in the front looked to be two armored cars of some sort with six wheels, Pyrrha could see a driver and a passenger in the front though for some strange reason they didn't have any doors, and a third person manning what looked to be a cannon on the top of the armored enclosed back.

"What are those?" Pyrrha asked looking at Gormez, she smiled back at Pyrrha and she could feel a slight spark of annoyance from it, it was the smile of someone who was looking at a child who asked a stupid question.

"Those are Venator LAV's, eight millimeters of reinforced steel, operational range of about seven hundred and fifty kilometers, eleven hundred if hooked up with external gas tanks, looks like these have dual heavy stubbers on top." Pyrrha nodded soaking the information, Nora bounced up and down in excitement, Ren just passively looked on.

Jaune was already getting started on the job by asking the Leflore's landing field coordinator about anything they need more of or replacement gear. The rest of Gormez's squad was corrdinating with the flight crews to get the supplies they brought set onto pallets or laid out on the ground.

"Before you ask the next set is the standard Armored Personnel Carriers that the Arcadian Military uses, we just call them Chimeras, they've got twelve millimeters of reinforced steel, a remote controlled heavy stubber on top and can effectively traverse any harsh land while maintain a pretty high speed for a stinking metal box." Pyrrha turned to see three box shape machines with sloped fronts, on the side she could see tracks churning up the loose soil with armored plates covering the sides as they hang over the tracks.

Behind them she could see another five basic flatbed trucks pull up with another Venator armored car pulling up the rear. The moment they stopped Jaune ordered everyone to start packing up the supplies starting from the heaviest, which most was taken care of by Saul who from Pyrrha's observation was probably stronger than almost everyone there combined. His strength combined with her semblance most of the heavy lifting was done in less than ten minutes.

Though in comparison Pyrrha's extended use of her semblance was exhausting and Jaune forced her to pick a transport to rest in despite her complaints, she couldn't even take her stuff because Jaune held onto it saying he'll bring it to her. She picked the lead one and opened the metal hatch on the back, and stepped in. It was a little small but she was able to find a comfortable seat to rest her head against the cool metal of the hull.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The only things she could really think about at the moment were how exciting it was to be on an official mission outside of the Kingdoms. Though there was a bit of a dark stain for this mission with Alexander Arc revealing a lot of information that if it were to come from anyone else Pyrrha would think they was crazy. Seriously it was utter lunacy, gods, and daemons, chaotic realms of madness trying to destroy life or twist it into some hideous thing that no sane person would want.

Pyrrha wasn't sure what she should think, but if Jaune believe it, she supposed she should give it a shot before dismissing it. However that didn't eliminate the possibility that the Arcs were just mistaking a new type of Grimm that no one has ever seen before. She honestly didn't know what to do and it was frustrating.

The other thing on her mind was the adorable blond goofball himself, Jaune. They've both agreed that they are now technically together. However Pyrrha didn't know what to do now, it felt like reaching that point would most likely never to come, except in like a doomsday scenario of the Grimm overrunning Vale and she was about to die. She shook her head softly, her pony tail whipping her in the face that would be crazy to actually happen.

Now she does have Jaune's attention and now knows that he likes her back, so once again she's drawn back into the conundrum of what to do. She doesn't know what a boyfriend and girlfriend were supposed to do; the protagonists in all her romance novels never had this problem. Normally it was the guy that led the direction or she was already experience enough to be comfortable with it.

Though Jaune was the one to take the first step technically and not only held her hand but also gave her a kiss on the cheek. Pyrrha figured that he was probably just as clueless about this sort of sort of stuff as her but he was already in a sense learning faster than she was.

To add onto that was her fame, Jaune wasn't wrong in wanting to help keep her out of the spotlight, it was one of the many downsides of being famous in any regard, the lack of privacy. If people found out about her seeing someone, the media and her fans would go crazy. She didn't want to burden Jaune and their new relationship with the endless invasive reporters and fans. Pyrrha sighed; this was going to be a challenge.

"You alright Pyrrha?" Nora asked as she stuck her head through the hatch.

"Yea, just thinking about the future." Nora smiled as she stepped in.

"You mean your future with Jaune?" Pyrrha smiled slightly at that, no matter what their friends are probably gonna be teasing them for a while.

"Yea just kind of worried about what we're supposed to be doing now that we're in a relationship." Nora tilted her head to the side and tapped her bottom lip with a finger as she thought about it.

"I don't think there really is anything to it, aside from doing a few things in a more romantic context isn't it really just the same?"

"What?"

"Stop over thinking it Pyrrha, just enjoy your time with Jaune knowing that he likes you, like it was any other day, seriously." Nora said as she took a seat next to Pyrrha and stretched in the seat. Pyrrha nodded slowly; maybe she was overthinking it instead of wasting time thinking about what could happen in the future she should just enjoy the moments that were happening right now.

"You girls ready?" Jaune called out as he, Ren and Gormez appeared outside of the open hatch. Both of the girls called out their affirmations of being ready to finally see Leflore. Soon enough Jaune was took a seat to the left of Pyrrha, Ren sat at the far end next to Nora and Gormez sat to the left of Jaune and five members of her squad sat across from them.

"Where's Saul?" Pyrrha asked looking at Jaune who just shook his head softly with a slight chuckle.

"Saul is riding in the third Chimera, he's too big to fit in one with anyone else in it, though he still had a hard time just getting through the hatch, he's going be annoyed though if he gets stuck on the way out." Pyrrha giggled slightly as she imagined the stern warrior stuck in the hatchway of the transport.

Soon enough the Chimera roared to life, Pyrrha blinked at surprise at the noise and feel of the engine slightly vibrating the vehicle. Within moments from that there was a lurch and a grinding sound that signaled that they were once more on the move.

"We'll be in Leflore in about ten minutes, once we're in the city everyone but Nora and Gormez will disembark and head to their respective tasks, Ren there's most likely going to be a liaison from the Administration to come and help you with anything you need on the task, Pyrrha, you and I will head to the Mayor's office and great the town's officials." Jaune said as he once more took out his scroll and swiped through it looking at what Pyrrha assumed was a copy of the mission document.

Soon they were going to disperse and start their first mission and while it may not be what they expected at first Pyrrha knew that it was going to be an experience that they'll never forget.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Ruby and the rest of her team watched as various members of the Arc family and the accompanying members of the Arcadian Military and Sisterhood once more entered Bullheads on Beacon's landing platforms.

Yang gave a wolf whistle as they saw Brin give Sanian a deep kiss that she quite visibly gave signs that she enjoyed it very much.

"Where do you think they're going?" Weiss asked as she watched Alexander Arc talk to various members people that were dressed in the gear of the Arcadian Military and Sisterhood, she had no doubt they were probably officers of some sort.

"I'm not really sure but it's a shame that we couldn't find a mission that even led us close to the South East, it was almost as if they deliberately kept missions down there from showing up." Blake said with her arms crossed, it was annoying to think that the Professors at Beacon were trying so hard to keep them from heading out there and doing some good.

"Well girls I guess we're just going to have to pick something here in Vale and try to continue digging up as much information as we can." Yang said with a shrug, before turning to her little sister and seeing that her face was scrunched up in thought.

"Hey Ruby what's with the face?"

"Oh? What?" Yang rolled her eyes; at how airheaded her little sister could be sometimes.

"I asked what's going on; you look like you just found out a cookie had raisins in it." Ruby made a disgusted face again but it quickly disappeared and she kicked the ground slightly with the tip of her boot, her face going a little red.

"I was just thinking about Jaune and his mission." Weiss turned at this to address her leader.

"You mean team JNPR's mission?"

"Yea…"

"That's actually an interesting thought because from what I hear they actually were given a mission from Mr. Arc before the mission selection actually started." Blake turned at this bit of information.

"Do you think the reason there was no mission to the South East was because the Arc's pulled some favor with the Headmaster to have Jaune's team head down there?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Well the Arc's seem to have a keen interest on the White Fang and their activates like us, so maybe they're doing what they can to snub us because we've out played them at the Docks and recruitment meeting." Yang snorted at her partner.

"What you think the Arc's would go that far to keep us out of the loop for this stuff?" Blake narrowed her eyes and cupped a hand around her chin, what were the Arc's up to? The more they stuck around the feeling that they were hiding something just tugged at her gut more and more.

"I mean why not? Remember Jaune's aunt Lilly? The one who lectured us about how we messed up her operation? Surely they're doing something to keep us out." Ruby tapped her lip slight in thought once more.

"Didn't she really just blame and lecture you? And didn't Jaune say the same thing to you again after our fight with Torchwick under the highway?" Yang and Weiss chuckled as Blake's cheeks turned a little red in annoyance or embarrassment, most likely both.

"Shouldn't you go mope about losing to Pyrrha?" Blake snapped at Ruby, and immediately her eyes opened and she covered her mouth.

"I'm so sorry Ruby." Blake said anguish clear in her voice; Ruby just looked away for a few seconds, before turning back.

"Don't worry about that." Weiss, Blake and Yang looked at each other, concerned looks on their faces for their team leader.

"Let's head to class now guys, I'm sure we can look again tomorrow for a new mission in Vale." Ruby said as she clasped her hands together behind her head and walked away. The remaining members of team RWBY stood there.

"Do you think she's taking it remarkably well about Jaune and Pyrrha's relationship?" Weiss asked turning to face her blond and black hair teammates.

"I'm not sure, I think Ruby is a little put off that her first crush was essentially taken away but give it time and she'll be back to her normal self." Yang said and the others nodded and walked after their young leader. Yang however knew that for the next few days or maybe even weeks it would probably be the best course of action to keep a steady eye on Ruby whenever the subject of Jaune or Pyrrha comes up.

Unbeknownst to them Alexander Arc had paid close attention to their conversation; the cat Faunus apparently didn't trust them. It was a valid guess; he didn't in fact trust her at all, not because he thought she was a bad person. No, Alexander didn't trust her because she was just an amateur that refused to acknowledge they're inexperience.

Did those children really think they actually made any serious investigational progress in their attempts so far? According to the report Lilly had given him and the briefing from Ozpin about the Dock incident, Ms. Belladonna's involvement was there by a stroke of luck though she apparently thought she was more capable in handling them. In any other instance Alexander would rather let her flounder and pay the price but she risked dragging his son and jeopardizing the safety of not only Vale but the rest of them.

The incident with the White Fang recruitment function showed that even when they did put effort in actual informational gathering that it had led to a serious failure. The target recognized them and they didn't get any actual useful information other than a general vicinity or direction in which the next stage of operations was heading for.

Any organization worth their salt would know that once was an accident, twice is coincidence and if it was the same people each time, that would mean they're hunting them and thus would plan accordingly.

While they may be Huntresses in training and damn good ones at that they were still too young to actually be able to deal with any serious threat. The only reason why Alexander and Ozpin's campaign against them haven't met with any serious failure was the fact they had trained professionals and not a group of kids doing the real work.

Though Alexander felt that Ozpin was inviting disaster all the same, sure he had Qrow Branwen who from what Alexander could tell was an excellent swordsman, scythe wielder and very observant. Glynda Goodwitch who not only was smart and adept at the use of dust along with her semblance but a very good logistics manager, Alexander would have hired for himself for his staff if he could.

Lastly was General James Ironwood, just like him a military man and willing to use a more firm approach to things whereas Ozpin would want to keep it cloak and dagger. Ozpin didn't seem to want to understand that things were getting to the point that bold actions were going to needed. While he may argue that making bold moves were going to upset the people, utter disaster, would upset them even more.

At the same time he understood why he and Ironwood were not getting along so well at the moment. Ironwood it seems wants to want and give a show of force to scare their adversaries; this was something that Alexander found foolish. Their opponents care not for the display of ships and manpower, even his own forces stationed in Vale combined with Ironwoods could easily be destroyed if they were not careful.

This was proven true when Ozpin authorized a joint scouting mission of Mountain Glenn, the entire Atlas team was killed and even his own squad had taken casualties. Qrow's testament of Ironwood's disdain for him and by extension the Arcadian Military was foolish enough to cost the lives of people and would no doubt bring more disaster. Lashing out like a petulant child Ironwood now has withdrawn his military backing to the current mission and thus Alexander is forced to expend his reserves in Vale to make up the lost manpower.

After the failure of the scout teams to accurately map the situation of Mountain Glenn, Qrow had taken it upon himself along with his Arcadian Military partner, Sehra Muril, to go and scout the city alone. Ironwood has claimed that Qrow and Muril were compromising not only themselves but the entire objective. Ozpin had assured him that Qrow was quite capable of handling the mission alone and Alexander vouched that Muril had an extensive past of, as he liked to call, being a ghost.

With the information that they were able to gather and pass along to Ozpin they now had an idea of what was going on. So Alexander put out that now was the time to act, and thus organized his forces to deploy in the Mountain Glenn Region.

He had Brin prepare the company of Arcadian Heavy Infantry to be deployed south of the city roughly ten kilometers out at the previous staging area that they had used to field the scout teams.

The Arcadian company has five platoons each made up of five twelve man squads. Each squad had a sergeant, a medic, a Vox officer, and either a marksman or a pair of support troopers, one geared for anti-infantry work armed with either a heavy stubber or flamethrower, while the other was geared to fight armored opponents. The rest were just standard infantrymen, though all had rudimentary training in various fields to assist them with minor wounds and armored opponents.

They carried an eighty eight millimeter shoulder mounted rocket launcher. It was a hundred and sixty four centimeter long metal tube with a blast shield with a clear plastic slit for them to see out of while protecting their face from smoke and heat of the rocket when fired. It came with two kinds of ammunition, standard high explosive and armor piercing. The down side to the weapon was the weight and limited amount of ammunition.

Lastly the heavy armor that was accompanying them was three tanks. Two of the tanks are the main battle tank used by the Arcadian Military called Predators. The front was a hundred millimeters of solid steel the sides were seventy five and the rear fifty. It had partially round turret on top with a flat front where the barrel sticks out from and an additional plate surrounding the base of the barrel. It was a hundred and twenty five millimeter gun and could drive on rough terrain at speed of forty five kilometers an hour.

It had its weakness though such as having essentially flat armor, except for the front which had two segmented portions like stairs, though in order to rectifying that they welded on an additional layer of plates that reached down to cover the sides and protect the vulnerable treads. The rear wasn't given anything due to it blocking the vents and exhaust system. Along with that it only had enough fuel to two hours, an external fuel tank could be attached but would be most likely destroyed and compromise the tank in combat.

All around it was a fine tank if given a support in the form of a partner tank or infantry to help cover its weaknesses.

The third tank was the Arcadian Military's answer to enemy armor; it was the Mark IV Tank Hunter or just commonly called Hunter though it would mostly likely get confusing in the four Kingdoms that employs and trains Hunters. Unlike the Predator the Hunter had a smaller profile with slanted armor on the front and side though the back was still relatively flat. It had eighty millimeters of steel in the front and side with sixty in the rear. It also had a narrower but high turret though it compensates for it, the turret plates on it were angled so it could also bounce shots.

The primary gun was a hundred and twenty five millimeter cannon but the barrel was longer and gave the rounds a high velocity, and increased inherent accuracy, allowing for it to hit harder and better than the Predator.

To add onto the force that Alexander was deploying was three squads from the Sisterhood. Unlike the infantry of the Arcadian Military, the Sisterhood, formed by his wife, Arabella who after marring him and joined the Arc family formed it in respect to her former Order. These women were armed with bolters and flamers but also equipped with power armor. It was something that Alexander wanted to keep out of the other Kingdom's hand, and so far it seemed that no one has been able to recreate it properly to use against them.

Aside from obvious better protection than other suits of armor the world has and inherently just as good or even better in some cases than aura. It gave the user great amount of strength, agility, and stamina, a seasoned warrior in power armor could easily take on ten to even a hundred people even those with aura in unarmed combat. But that doesn't mean it made the user invincible, it will fail at some point no matter how good it is or how good the person using it was. Everyone dies at some point the only choice they have is to pick when and how, he didn't just believe this as some sort of personal philosophy but a fact of life.

Alexander looked down at his wristwatch, seeing it slowly tick away the assault on Mountain Glenn was supposed to commence in forty eight hours. Alexander had pulled back the time in order for additional forces to arrive both in Vale and at the staging area. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, listening to the soft chatter of the teenagers around him. Some were talking about class, others the kind of training they wanted to get in or speculating about what to expect on their missions.

He opened his eyes once more and walked back to Beacon tower where his room was held. As he passed by more students he couldn't help but sense that someone was watching him. He carefully looked left and right without turning his head. There was no one, he lifted his wrist again, acting as if he was going to check the time once more but was really using the reflective surface to try and look behind him.

There he could see a black hair girl in the uniform of Mistral watching him; he's been around for a very long time and in his experience he'd reckon he could easily tell what a person was thinking or feeling by their facial expression. While he's had his fair share of women look at him with desire or fascination whether they were younger or older than him that wasn't the case this time.

What drew his suspicion was that she had neither of those on her face, while her face did show joy it was her eyes that gave her away; they had a desire in them but not one of lust but of violence. He turned around but she was already gone, lost in a sea of teenage faces.

* * *

 **2 Days Later…**

Jaune sat on the edge of his bed in the hotel that the town officials of Leflore had provided them, Nora and Ren were both asleep and Pyrrha was taking a shower after their sparring session. Pyrrha was adamant that it didn't matter where they were, training and practice was always crucial. After a grueling three and a half hours of training Jaune had trudged back to their hotel room to clean up.

Now he was going over the reports and documents that he received both from Ren and town officials about spending, requests for more funds, status of current projects like the renewal of the town water aqueducts or the expansion of the residential areas.

Along with that he had the logistical documents of the Arcadian Army garrison; there was a whole battalion of Arcadian infantry. The 1st Battalion of the 13th Light Infantry Regiment of the Arcadian 3rd Infantry Division was stationed here having recently rotated with the 3rd Battalion of the 14th Heavy Infantry of the 7th Division. This meant that roughly twelve hundred soldiers were in the town of Leflore. Which to Jaune's understanding is actually matching about a tenth of the towns overall population which in turned stretched their manpower quite a bit between policing the townsfolk and guarding the town itself.

Jaune however was surprised enough to see that according to the Army roster there was in fact a detachment of six Predator tanks along with six Hydra self-propelled Anti Air tanks, twelve Venators and three dozen Chimeras. To compound that there was a number of other equipment sent here, twenty four Sabre Gun Platforms which was essentially a four Heavy Stubbers in one, used for static defense. There was at least several more pages noting ammunition, fuel, medical supplies, and various other supplies, all authorized by his father and the council.

"This only makes sense if he's expecting a prolong engagement or siege…" Jaune said aloud, a pair of soft arms circled around his neck and he squeaked in surprise, Pyrrha who was trying to give him a hugged jumped back giving a squeak of her own. Sadly Jaune noticed that his was a much higher pitch than hers.

"I'm so sorry Jaune; I didn't mean to scare you." Jaune scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"It's fine Pyrrha I just wasn't expecting you to do that's all." Pyrrha sat next to him and Jaune couldn't help but notice that her hair was still a little wet and was dripping on her night shirt. He shook his head slightly, now was not the time to be focusing on something like that.

"Anyways, tomorrow's the last day and we've already gotten all the necessary work done, I instructed the Mayor's officer that if they require anything else from us that we would be happy to hear them out." Jaune said as he stretched his arms and lay back onto his bed.

"So? That means we're pretty much free to do whatever we want tomorrow?"

"Yup unless they ask us for help on something or if Saul says otherwise we're unwinding after all that reading and political mumbo jumbo." Pyrrha smiled slightly at that last part.

"Jaune you handle those men and women pretty well."

"Ah well when your dad is the head of the family and by extension essentially the head of an entire Kingdom you pick up a few things." This new bit of information made Pyrrha blink and sit there registering it a few moments of what Jaune said.

"Soooo your father is King of Arcadia?" Jaune looked back at her with that and shook his head.

"Not in that sense, Arcadia still runs on a form of council for mundane business like taxes, infrastructure, basic lawmaking and other Legislation. However ultimate power still resides with the head of the government also known as the High Lord or King if you really wanna call it that and can also make his or her own laws or actions but they mostly don't do that unless they're in a state of emergency."

"Jaune?"

"Yea?"

"Are you next in line to become High Lord of Arcadia?" Jaune just stared at Pyrrha before he started to laugh a little.

"Hahaha, don't be silly Pyrrha, the position of High Lord isn't necessarily a hereditary position."

"So someone other than an Arc could be High Lord?" Jaune thought for a second, thinking back to his early childhood when he was getting his lessons from his aunt and uncle.

"No, the Arc Family are the only ones that can take the throne of the High Lord however the position can be given to almost anyone in the Family after a vote from all the adults in the Family takes place. So for instance if my father is horribly injured in combat and he needed to pick his successor right then and there, he could pick his wife or my mom and after a meeting of the family is convened and most if not all vote for her, she'll become the new High Lord." Pyrrha nodded a little in understanding, Jaune looked up at wall and saw that it was almost one in the morning.

"I think we should head to bed now Pyrrha." Jaune said, before standing and heading over to a table located in the center of the room to pour a glass of water from a pitcher.

Pyrrha hummed her agreement and started to climb into her bed, so watched Jaune slowly move about the room putting away papers and shutting off the lights. In the dark she could barely make out his form a little as he quietly moved to the bed right next to her and slipped underneath the covers. The weight of the rooms' darkness seemed to slowly force her eyes closed in search of sleep and soon she was in her own world as she slumbered.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Jaune could hear his scroll vibrating on the table; the screen illuminated the patch of ceiling directly above it. He pushed the covers off him and dragged his still groggy body to the table and pick up his scroll. He felt his heart start to pick up when he saw that there were eight missed calls and three new messages from Saul. The first message was asking if he was still awake, the second said that he needed to get armed, the third was that he had dispatched Gormez and her squad to him.

"Jaune?" He turned around and saw the tired form of his partner sitting up in her bed, her face still showing signs of sleep all over it but slowly burned away as she got the nagging feeling something was wrong.

"Everyone needs to get up and armed now." Jaune said loudly before setting his scroll back down and start rummaging through his stuff for his clothes and gear.

"Jaune what do you mean?"

"Saul just sent a message saying we need to be armed and that he sent Gormez and her squad to come meet us, something is wrong." Ren shot straight up and opened his eyes to see his team leader strapping Crocea Mors to his waist, Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom dressed with Miló and Akoúo in her hands.

"Wass goin onnn?" A bleary eye Nora said as she emerged from her minor construction of a pillow fort that she had made before falling asleep.

"Nora get dressed now, Ren you too." Ren stepped off his bed and grabbed his clothes and headed towards the bathroom to change.

"Jaune what's going on?"

"I don't know anything yet, but get ready nonetheless." He nodded, if Jaune was worried about something, chances were he was acting accordingly with the present information he had or was preparing for the worst case scenario.

"Done!" Nora cried as she tossed off the pillows, somehow she had gotten dressed under them without anyone noticing. It was then that the first explosion could be heard, a distant thump that progressively got louder as the sound got closer to them, the windows to their room rattling a little.

"What was that?" Pyrrha asked Jaune shook his head, most likely whatever that was going on had to be at the walls. At that moment Gormez pounded her fist on the door to their room.

"You kids ready in there!?" Jaune turned to regard his team, Nora and Pyrrha were both dressed and held their weapons in their hands, and Ren stepped out from the bathroom StormFlower in his hands.

"You guys ready?" They nodded, and Jaune smiled slightly to encourage them.

"Whatever happens we stick together and watch each other's back, we're going to find out what's going on and deal with it." Everyone nodded once more, determined looks on their faces, and Jaune flung the door to their room open. Gormez was dressed in her combat gear; helmet covering her face, Jaune could see that her squad was situated around her watching the hallway.

"Lead the way Sergeant." He said, she nodded and motioned to follow her, soon enough all of them were running down the halls, random groups of people were talking amongst themselves, the fear and anxiety of what was going on palpable in the air. A few even called out to Gormez and her soldiers demanding to know what was going on.

"Gormez if you don't mind, I would like to know what's going on also." Jaune said as he held the door open for his team to run through, they had reached the main lobby. Jaune could see that most of the hotel's occupants were standing talking amongst themselves. They pushed through the front doors and Jaune could see that there was two Chimera's idling outside on the street, a few children stood close to them staring in awe. She gestured for them to pick anyone and Jaune took the lead vehicle, the rest of his team, Gormez and five of her men followed them in.

"Gormez, seriously if you have any information on what's going on, now would be a good time, like what was that explosion."

"Grimm." Jaune narrowed his eyes; there was only one reason that they would bring them out like this.

"It's a horde isn't it?" She turned to face him; Jaune couldn't see what her face looked like at the moment through her helmet.

"How big?"

"Big enough that Saul is bring every company up to full alert, and already deployed the armor out in the fields."

"What about those Sabre Gun Platforms?" She shook her head.

"Only a few were installed and that's at the forts and the main gate that leads into Leflore so far." Jaune frowned and looked to his team, Pyrrha smiled encouragingly, Ren the ever stoic man just nodded and Nora gave a mock salute with a wide grin.

"Is there aynthing else, like what was that explosion?" Gormez shook her head.

"I'm sorry but I don't know anything about what it is, from what I can tell with the Vox traffic no one else knows either." Jaune frowned and sat there trying to think back about what he had read in Malcador journal, something about this situation was wrong.

In the main building of the Arcadian Army base outside of Leflore, Saul slammed a fist into a nearby table; the metal gave way to his fist breaking through it. Everyone nearby flinched and backed away from the giant, he wasn't happy a single ounce.

"Pull everyone off the walls and have them start heading back to secondary lines, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, have the Lion's Pride and Grey Fox move to support 3rd Company, have the nearest pair of Hydras move to Gamma also they'll be important with their firepower." The Grimm were now starting to pour through the hole in the wall, no one had any idea how it appeared but Saul knew the distinct effects of a Melta bomb when he saw one.

To add onto that intelligence reports indicated that the nearest Grimm horde was supposed to be a full day's travel away and actually heading away from Leflore but suddenly they were now rushing through a hole in their wall. Something spooked them or forced them to change direction, Saul could only think of three things, either a group of highly skill Hunters pushed them this way, an Elder Grimm was directing them or some Daemon was there or they chose to flee instead of facing it.

If one of them were here that would mean that they're getting stronger, he knew that Alexander was preparing to attack Mountain Glenn soon based on information that the White Fang and some criminal were possibly making a portal, and one with the ability to access the underground tunnels of that dead city that lead to Vale would be a disaster.

If they were also attacking a settlement like this, which was many times bigger and well-defended than Gellar. That would mean that they think they're strong enough to challenge bigger opponents and if or when word breaks out a well-defended town like Leflore was attacked and possibly destroyed the people of Remnant would panic. The Kingdoms would freak out and start isolating themselves in order to protect themselves from this new threat. However that would be a mistake, cutting yourself off from your allies would let mean they had divided them and all that was left would be to conquer them, a Vox officer called out from his station.

"Sir! Incoming Vox transmission from Captain Glevene." Captain Glevene was the commanding officer of the third company that was deployed to try and plug the hole that was made. However the initial contact reports he gave suggested that they were going to be overwhelmed soon. Saul nodded to the man and he hit a switch to allow incoming transmission to be heard from a speaker above him.

"Captain Glevene, Saul here, what's the status of the Grimm?" There was a brief moment of static, before a gruff voice came over the speaker.

"Aye the Grimm Sir, they're dead." That came as a surprise.

"Dead? Ten minutes ago you said that your company was probably going to be overwhelmed by them."

"Yes sir they just started to thin out randomly and from what my sergeants are telling me that the only ones left be the wounded." Something wasn't right about that, Saul could just feel it, another aide came up to Saul and hand him some papers with current status reports of the other companies.

"Stay alert Captain I've sent Lion's Pride and Grey Fox to your position use them as you see fit, 2nd Company is situated at point Gamma with a pair of Hydras to cover your retreat if need be, 4th Company is currently spread over Beta and Alpha, Iron Throne is also shifting from its position at Beta to you. 1st Company is currently putting the Martial Law order that Mayor announced moments ago into effect."

"Roger that, if it's possible I could use a few Venators out at my position, they'd be useful as an vanguard to clear the surrounding outside area with Grey Fox and Lion's Pride." Saul saw the logic in that request; he looked up to address the Vox Officers in the room.

"Someone get three Venators up and send them to Captain Glevene's position." A few officers turned around and started to switch channels to get into contact with the closet Venators to Glevene and send them to him.

"Saul!" The voice of Jaune Arc came from behind; he turned to see him armed with Crocea Mors and his team standing behind him.

"Jaune, glad you can make it." He walked up to Saul and even though he had grown quite a bit he still didn't even reach Saul's chin.

"What's going on, I got your message and we heard an explosion." Saul raised his hands to stop Jaune, who stopped talking.

"There was an explosion and a Grimm horde came through the wall but it seems that they've been taken care of, there's a company out by the breach attempting to secure it while we start organizing to plug and repair the hole."

"Since when do Grimm cause explosions?" Ren said as he stepped up next to Jaune, his hands seemed to be clenched and his eyes had a hard glint in them, Saul looked at him, the kid was smart to pick that up.

"They don't." Jaune narrowed his eyes.

"Saul what else is there?"

"I don't know." Ren stepped forward once more.

"Don't know or won't say."

"Do not test me Lie Ren, I'm not here to keep secrets from you but nor am I subordinate to your questions." Jaune placed a hand on Ren's arm and pulled him back slightly.

"Hey, Ren its okay let me talk with Saul." He turned back to his old friend, and crossed his arms.

"It's fine that you don't have anything concrete to tell us Saul, but my team has been made aware of the Immaterium and its dangers, you don't need to spare us any necessary information." Once more Saul shook his head.

"You do not understand, Jaune this wasn't supposed to happen, the Horde was a day's travel away and heading in the opposite direction, no one foresaw this happening." Pyrrha stepped up at this.

"So wait, something turned a Grimm Horde around and made them come this way?" Saul nodded, Jaune pondered that new information.

"Is it possible that they encountered something?" Jaune asked his voice slightly quiet, but his team and Saul were both able to hear him, once more Saul nodded.

"Sir, incoming transmission from Captain Glevene!"

"Patch him to the main speakers, Lieutenant." Saul said as he turned away from Jaune, there was a burst of static before it cleared out.

"Can anyone hear me!?"

"Yes Captain, we hear you just fine."

"Throne, please you've got to send help!" Saul narrowed his eyes at the use of phrasing, Jaune looked at Ren and he met his eyes.

"Do you hear that?" Jaune nodded.

"He sounds terrified." There was a burst of gunfire in the distance that came through the speaker, it didn't sound like the well-disciplined fire that Saul expected of veteran soldiers but of men panicking as they tried to kill something.

"Captain Glevene! What's going on!?" Saul raised his voice slightly, his instincts were screaming for him to get ready for battle.

"There's so many of them!"

"Grimm? Captain I need you to tell me what's going on." Saul asked again, the members of team JNPR and the other officers in the room looked at each other.

"Monsters! They're fucking monsters!" Gunfire cut him off, something must have kept the speech function on his Vox caster on because they heard everything. Screams and gunfire echoed out of the speaker, Glevene could be heard screaming orders but most of it was incoherent other than him telling his men to kill them.

Soon enough the gunfire started to slowly disappear; the heavy breathing of Glevene could still be heard. Slow, thick gurgling laughter could be heard, and slow thuds of footsteps could be heard, and Glevene whimpered and the gurgling laughter grew louder. The metallic click of a rifle being reloaded could be heard but he screamed and the heavy meaty sound of a body falling could be heard and the transmission cut off most likely the Vox Caster was destroyed.

"Contact those Venators and tell them to break off their route to 3rd company's position and form up with Lion's Pride and Grey Fox, and someone get me a line with either tank." The room burst into action to follow Saul's order, he beckoned for an aide to come forth and told her to get his belongings, and she turned sprinting out the door.

Jaune felt something grip his left hand and he turned to see Pyrrha standing next to him, he could see worry was in her eyes, he squeezed her hand softly in an effort to comfort her. She turned to meet his eyes and thankfully they softened when meeting his and she smiled, though he could still see an inkling of fear but at least now she was trying to get a handle on it.

Saul turned his head to the side; Jaune looked up and met his eyes. Saul could see the steely determination in Jaune's eyes, he nodded slightly to himself, and hopefully it doesn't fail Jaune in the coming hours.

"Sir Lion's Pride commander Hopkins is on the lines." Saul nodded towards the man, and once more the line was transferred over to him.

"Saul here, what is it Hopkins?"

"S-Sir I've got a visual feed of 3rd Company's position, you're gonna want to see this." Saul could hear the tremble in her voice, whatever killed Glevene was most likely still there. On the wall across from Saul a video monitor turned into static as a link was established with the Lion's Pride. Within moments it cleared up to show what they saw, everything tinged with green from the night vision feature of their recorder, a few white spots could be seen from fires or other light sources, and that's when they saw them.

Three dozen bipedal grotesque creatures milled around the dead of Glevene's company, they were of various heights going from one to three meters tall, almost all of them were in various states of decaying bodies, rotten organs poked out from their ruined flesh. They all had one eyes situated in the center of their oddly shaped faces, many opened their mouths in glee to reveal rotten yellow and black teeth. Various sores and wounds could be seen on the greenish brown flesh that leaked thick yellow pus. They held thick blades and axes, many of which were slick with the blood of the men that lay butchered at their feet.

"Plaguebearers…" Saul whispered, Jaune whipped his head back to Saul, he recalled his conversation with his father in giving more detail about the Four and their minions, things just went from complicated to heart stopping. He looked back at the feed from the tank, there was a flash of light and smoke obscured the view once more.

"What happened?" Nora asked gripping the edge of the table, as they watched the smoke dissipate.

"The tank fired its main cannon; let's see if it had any effect." Jaune said, the smoke finally cleared away and they could see that several of the monsters had been blasted away, a smoking crater in the middle of the group. One of the creatures roared before charging the tank, and Jaune could see another flash appear off screen a bloom of smoke or dirt appeared in the middle of the charging pack. In the back they could see more creatures hopping through the gap in the wall, Saul immediately started to snap orders out.

"Send word to all companies that Plaguebearers have breached the wall, have all support and armor personnel to report at point Gamma, tell the 1st that they need to start taking the place of the 4th while shifting 4th Company to position Gamma to reinforce it, send word to the Mayor that he needs to start evacuation plans or putting his people into emergency shelters, also vox the nearest Arcadian combat flight for C.A.S. missions." Jaune watched as everyone started running around and chatting away at their Vox sets, Saul turned around.

"Jaune I'm going to need you to take your team and Gormez to Beta, it's the closest position to the airfield, if we're unable to beat the Plaguebearers, you need to be on the first Bullhead out of here."

"What!? What about you Saul, what about Leflore? Let us fight also, we can help." Jaune said, a hand unconsciously gripping the handle of Crocea Mors.

"Jaune, chances are you will be forced to fight anyways, but Plaguebearers are notoriously hard to put down, as you can see we've already lost a quarter of our fighting force, and we're bound to lose more, we'll fight for as long as we can but we may not win this and while I'll do what I can to get every man and women out alive there's a good chance that the people of Leflore are not going to make it out."

"So you want us to run?"

"Yes. Jaune you are going to learn a very painful lesson today, but not everyone makes it out, and not every fight is going to be a win, but in the end it doesn't matter if you lose once or twice but the fact you live another day to ensure that those defeats aren't in vain that's what important, so do as I say." Jaune stayed silent, he wanted to help so badly but what Saul told him was right and despite how it defied almost every fiber of his body he knew that their presence on the battlefield wasn't going to change things either way.

"Jaune are we really going to abandon this town?" Ren hissed, and it threw Jaune for a loop at the intensity of anger that he saw in his friend.

"Look Ren we'll talk about this later, we just need to go." Ren looked away and stormed off, Nora looked at his receding back and at Jaune, and he nodded at her. Nora took off jogging after Ren; Jaune ran a hand through his hair taking a deep breath. Pyrrha placed her hand on Jaune's shoulder and he looked back at her.

"It's okay Jaune, I'm sure he's just upset at leaving behind innocent people."

"Look I don't want to leave anyone to their deaths either but if what Saul is saying comes true the four of us aren't going to be able to save everyone, even you would have trouble fighting these things." Jaune and Pyrrha started to walk out the way they came, and soon they found themselves back at the two Chimera's that brought them here, Gormez and her squad were milled around them looking into the night, the distance sounds of explosions and gunfire could be heard.

"What the fuck is going on out there." One man said as he slung his rifle over his shoulder, another soldier turned to him.

"Sounds like a couple of tanks and a bunch of guys with fitty's are going crazy."

"Not as crazy as earlier sounded like 3rd company was trying to offload all their ammo in a matter of minutes."

"That's because they ran into a bunch of Plaguebearers." Jaune called out as he and Pyrrha reached them, all conversation stopped.

"Fuck me; did the kid just say Plaguebearers, here?" Gormez walked in front of Jaune and placed her hand on his chest plate.

"Jaune what do you mean?" He removed her hand and took a step back, to get a better view of everyone.

"Listen up, after 3rd Company moved to fight the Grimm Horde that somehow broke through the wall, they were able to put them down however when they went to go secure the breach a group of Plaguebearers charged them, and being caught unaware, 3rd Company was killed, not a single person made it out, now Saul has ordered us to the Beta position, we've also been ordered to get on the first Bullhead out of here if the order to evacuate is given, Gormez you and your squad are to join us there, we came here together we leave together, now mount up we leave in five minutes." Jaune said as he looked up at the night sky towards the fighting, he could see the occasional tracer arc up into the sky. Soon enough they were once again in the Chimera's heading out of the compound to the Beta point. After about ten minutes have passed Jaune felt a tap on his arm, and he turned to see Ren looking at him.

"Yea Ren?"

"I'm sorry about earlier…I…I didn't mean to be so…curt…" Jaune stopped his friend but placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine Ren, you never have to apologize about something like that, for what it's worth I'm not entirely happy about the situation myself." Ren nodded before sitting back into his seat, Nora flashed him a thumbs up which he returned. Pyrrha was the next to tap Jaune's shoulder and he turned to her.

"Yes Pyrrha?"

"Jaune what exactly is the plan?" Jaune blinked as he tilted his head a little, he could see Gormez was also looking in direction.

"There isn't much to say really, we get to Beta, we situate ourselves there to help defend the position and wait until either we get the signal to retreat or to come and help finish the Plaguebearers off."

"What's so important about this position, I understand that the one called Gamma is important because it covers the approach that the east road which the…Plaguebearers would come from and Alpha is covering the main road that leads to Leflore."

"Well its simple really, remember how we travelled from the landing field to Leflore?" She nodded.

"Well what you may not know is in order for us to have gotten to the road we had to go through a fortification that encompasses the road from the airfield to the main road."

"So Beta is the fort that protects the path to and from the airfield?"

"That's correct, and you may be wondering why not just go around it well, there's a series of rivers that go through Leflore and they're wide and deep enough to prevent anyone or anything from crossing over them, so the only way to cross them within the walls is too go through the forts." Pyrrha nodded in understanding, in order for the Arcadian military to be able to have the ability to evacuate was for them to be holding the Beta fort; if it was destroyed or taken then they would be trapped.

It wasn't until about ten minutes later until the Chimera's started to slow down, a burst of small static came through the cabin speaker system, and a rough voice of man who seemed to have little patience for anything came over.

"Alright then kids, your stop is coming up, I want you to get your stinking arses out so I can go do something useful." Pyrrha frowned slightly at his rude tone.

"Well that's a little rude isn't it; we're doing something important here also." The APC came to a halt and Nora flung open the hatch and jumped out whooping about how she was going to kick ass, Ren could only follow on after his best friend. Soon enough team JNPR and Gormez with her squad stood outside the gate of the fortress.

The walls roughly ten meters tall were mostly constructed out of wood and sandbags, the bottom three meters were stone blocks. A wooden bridge cut across a seven meter wide gap that had rushing water at the bottom of a ten meter drop. A few floodlights could be seen on the walls also some pointing inside but the rest was mainly focused on scanning the surrounding land. The wooden gates opened up to allow them in, a squad of soldier stood on the other side waving them in. Jaune could see that a few barrels of Sabre platforms stuck out over the ramparts of the wooden walls as they jogged inside.

"Glad to see you folks, what brings you here?" A tall man in combat geared said as he stepped out in front of the other men.

"My name is Jaune Arc, leader of team JNPR all students of Beacon, Saul wanted us to come here and help protect Beta with you." Jaune said as he stuck out his hand, the man hesitantly took it.

"D-did you say Arc?"

"Yes."

"Shit an Arc member was here the entire time and a student of Beacon on top of that, if you don't mind me asking whose kid are you?" He asked, before another person behind him tore their helmet off to reveal a man with stubble and his eyes wide in surprise.

"Shit, Nalhem, that's bloody Alexander the Great Arc's son." The man turned around and did a double take between her and Jaune but before he said anything a booming voice echoed from above them. They looked up to see a woman with her helmet held in the crook of her arm she was deathly pale with white hair and crimson eyes, she walked down a set of wooden stairs. She had her rifle in her other hand and Jaune could see a shotgun strapped across her back.

"What the hell is going on here?" Her voice was scratchy and Jaune could see scar tissue around her throat, no doubt a wound that is now affecting her voice.

"Nothing ma'am just asking some questions of the Arc." The man called Nalhem said as he saluted her. She looked over at Jaune, and he could see that some of the tension bled away, and she nodded towards him.

"So you're the Arc? Didn't think that they meant that you're here as a student of Beacon." Jaune nodded towards her.

"I'm sorry if this is inconvenient but Saul ordered us to be here."

"Doesn't matter, you're here and that means I need to keep you alive as much as my men, but since I technically don't have jurisdiction to order you around since you're a Beacon student I'm going to have to ask you to play ball." Pyrrha stepped up.

"Ma'am our purpose here isn't to be a hindrance to you; we're also here to help protect the crossing." She snorted.

"Aren't you a nice one, anyways I know you're not here to be a burden I'm sure those skills that got you into Beacon are mighty handy but you think I don't get why the Force Commander sent you here? You're a fucking Arc, and that means keeping you alive is my job above even keeping my men or my own life." Jaune shook his head.

"No. No one is going to die just to keep us alive."

"Well tough shit kid, dying is a part of the job description." Jaune blinked at the angry snarl she gave him, and he looked back to his team who just shrugged. She took a deep breath and rubbed the scar around her neck.

"Look you can help us defend this position but ultimately if it goes tits up you're going to be the first one to leave no matter what, if it makes you feel any better if somehow we get some wounded you can take them and guard them as you leave." Before Jaune or the others could say anything another man called down to them. Soon enough the sound of thunder came rolling over the walls and everyone in the fort stopped what they were doing. Jaune focused for a second, the sound was coming from the direction that they came from both Alpha and Gamma lay in the direction.

"Everyone stay focused on what's in front of you...Follow me." The Lieutenant called out to her men but the last bit was directed towards team JNPR. They followed her up the wooden steps from before to the wall, Jaune could see that most of the soldiers around them had resumed doing whatever it was they were doing, some moving what he assumed were crates of ammunition, or checking their equipment. As they reached the top of the stairs Pyrrha grasped his arm and pointed.

"Jaune look." He looked back up towards the outside; it was still night so the only light that he could see came from Leflore and the spotlights on the walls with them pointing to the empty grassland. However in the distant Jaune could see flashes of light and tiny dots of light flying up into the sky, the rumbling sound of thunder came from direction matched the flashes of light. He knew that mean the Plaguebearers had reached the Gamma point, something splashed on his cheek and Jaune looked up, rain.

"Shit that's gonna play havoc for visibility." A man said aloud from nearby, others grunted their agreements.

"Alright someone get me Lynn." The white hair Lieutenant said and walked away, that left Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren and Gormez on the wall watching the distant flashes of battle continue.

"Do you think we're going to save Leflore?" Ren spoke out of nowhere and they turned to face Jaune who brushed his wet hair out of his eyes, the silence was palpable.

"No."

"Do you think the soldiers will make it out?" Jaune paused for a second.

"No."

"Are we going to make it out?" Jaune turned to face his friends, everyone even Nora looked at him intensely, he could see worry written on their faces in various degrees.

"Yes, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you alive, you're my friends and my team, I'll always looks out for you above all else." They nodded, content with Jaune's words but even he could see that with the events of the past hour they were still shaken, people were dead and they knew more were about to die.

* * *

 **3 Hours Later…**

He watched Leflore burn in the distance, Jaune still stood on the wall facing east as the sun rose, in the distance he could see the telltale signs of smoke rising from where Gamma and Alpha were supposed to be. Pyrrha and the others had immediately gone inside one of the barracks of the fort to keep out of the rain. Jaune however felt it was necessary as an Arc to watch his people die, albeit from a distance as they fought to protect others. The sound of battle could still be heard so that meant that people were still alive but now just fighting in Leflore, no doubt even civilians were doing what they could to help fight.

There were a few soldiers to his left and right on the wall with him, it was roughly four maybe five hundred meters long and five meters thick. Each section of wall had one Sabre Gun platform that was capable of firing in all directions both in and out of the wall except for straight up and down, meaning it had a blind spot anything that was already by the wall. The courtyard, while not as big as Beacon was still big enough to hold four barracks, two maintenance hangers for vehicles and an office building.

However the fort was undermanned with most of the battalion's strength at Alpha or Gamma trying to stop the Plaguebearers advance. So aside from Jaune, his team, and Gormez there was only two platoons of infantry in there with them with attending support staff for the office, maintenance and Sabre Platforms.

"Jaune have you been standing here the entire time?" He turned around and saw Pyrrha standing on the stair case looking at him; she was wearing a poncho and had two cups in her hands.

"Yea, I owe it to my people to at least stand here and witness their final moments." Pyrrha didn't say anything as she stood next to him. She set down a cup in front of Jaune and he looked down to see that it was a cup of hot chocolate, he looked up at her in surprise and could see that she was smiling at him.

"They serve hot chocolate here?"

"Yea the mess hall is pretty well stocked, though you would have known that if you had come with us to get something to eat." She said a slight reprimanding tone in her voice and Jaune could do nothing but sip at his drink nonchalantly to avoid her wraith. Soon they slipped into silence the only sounds around them was the steady pattering of rain and the distance drum beats of conflict.

"Do you think Saul is still alive?" She asked out of nowhere, anything to break the silence.

"Saul? Maybe, from the stories he'd to tell me I reckon he's lived through worse situations than this." Pyrrha nodded slowly; there was something about Jaune that was different, it was like as if the nervous guy she knew from months ago had disappeared. She would have expected him to be a lot more nervous that they were on a mission that had gone terribly wrong and now people were dying all around them by demonic creatures.

"Jaune?"

"Yea Pyrrha?"

"How are you so fine with all of this?" He turned to look at her once more, confusion etched on his face.

"I mean people are dying, and Leflore is on the verge of destruction by daemons from some alternate hell dimension, the soldiers, Ren, Nora and even I am nervous, this isn't something I think we were expecting to face when we entered Beacon but you seem…content." Jaune could only stand there, Pyrrha made a good point. He had entered Beacon in hopes of becoming a Hero that saves people. Instead he was standing on a wooden wall surrounded by soldiers in the rain watching thousands of people die to hellish monsters yet he felt nothing, he shrugged.

"I don't know Pyrrha, as much as I hate knowing people die, I don't feel any overwhelming emotions by it, and all I know is that it's the logical conclusion that those Plaguebearers will break our defense. People were going to die anyways; all that matters to me now is seeing you and the others get out of here safely." Pyrrha could feel her heart warm slightly at his determination to see them be safe but at the same time she couldn't help but feel worried at how easy it seemed for him to resign those people to death. Was it really just his ways of trying to cope with the fact that they failed as hunters in training to save people or did he just not care for them anymore?

"Pyrrha I know you're probably worried but please trust me in this." Pyrrha blinked, did he really know what she was thinking or maybe they were at the point they just understood each other like that? She didn't get far in her line of thinking when Jaune gently gripped her shoulders and planted a kiss on her forehead. She blinked as he stepped back and once more that same sheepish smile he had when he got embarrassed over something came on his face.

That was the moment when the first shot was heard nearby. Jaune had Crocea Mors out and held at ready while Pyrrha had Miló and Akoúo, that's when they saw their first Daemon. A three meter tall Plaguebearer was standing over the mutilated body of a soldier, his torso was split down the middle towards their waist.

Pyrrha could feel her face scrunch in disgust even at a dozen meters away she could see the rotten pustules and smell the odors of the corrupted decaying flesh that reminded her of rancid meat.

"Pyrrha shoot it!" Jaune shouted as crouched down in front of Pyrrha with his shield held out, and she switch Miló into its rifle form and aimed at the daemon's head and fired three times. The first round was off center so it ripped the skin on the left side of its face off, revealing rotten teeth and muscle. The second round impacted its neck and a cloud of dark blood spurted out, Jaune almost gagged at the smell as some of the blood landed in front of him, the third round smashed apart the eye and its forehead.

It teetered back a little before suddenly charging towards them. Pyrrha could honestly say that it was the most frightening sight she had yet to experience in her short life. A creature that she doubt she could ever dream up of was running towards them and despite having part of its head blown away it was still alive. Her training was probably the only thing that kept her from locking up in fear but even than she unload every shot she had into it, multiple holes appeared as the dust rounds ripped through it. It didn't stop and her weapon gave hallow click to signify that it was empty, Pyrrha shifted it once more into its Xiphos form and she crouched slightly to meet its charge.

Jaune however had different ideas and the moment Pyrrha had switched to Miló to its Xiphos form, he decided to charge the Plaguebearer instead.

"Jaune no!" Pyrrha called out to him but he ignored her. He raised his shield up and braced as he slammed into the Plaguebearer as hard as he could into its torso. It felt like hitting a squishy bed of some sort, he could feel his shield sink into its body about an inch but even at a full sprint it still had the momentum to start pushing him back.

He could see it raise its right arm with its massive blade to come down on him to get him out of its way but before it even had the chance to come down, Pyrrha jumped from behind swinging Milo and cutting off its hand at the wrist. However it reacted at the same time and it lashed out with its other fist, Pyrrha raised Akoúo, angling it so it would slide away instead of hitting straight on.

She landed on the wooden railings and turned just in time to catch the back swing of the arm she had just cut the hand off of, sending her flying down the walk way landing on the mutilated body of the soldier. Jaune stepped back letting go of his shield, it was embedded in its body and he didn't have the time to pull it out without getting hurt.

He swung up with Crocea Mors catching the left arm right above the elbow, surprisingly enough the blade cut through it with no resistance. It swing its other arm at him and he ducked down and rolled to the side, though he miscalculated how narrow the wall was and ended up slamming into the bulwark. It was enough for his purpose of avoiding getting hit.

By this time an alarm was blaring all around the fort, someone in the distance was yelling about how more were breaking in. Jaune didn't have time to focus on what they were saying, he scrambled to his feet to face the Plaguebearer once more, and he could see Pyrrha in the back slowly start to get up once more. It attacked once more swinging its arm in a wide arc but instead of trying to dodge he stepped inside its reach and swung in an overhead arc at its shoulder, this time the blade only went half way through and he could see blood ooze out of the wound.

Pyrrha watched as Jaune scored another wound, he's doing remarkably better than her in this situation, the sound of gunfire started going off behind her and she twirled with Akoúo and Miló held ready at meet any new foe. Instead she saw that the soldiers of the fort were manning the walls shooting both towards the east and south. She frowned if the enemy was on the south side did that mean they have found a way to cross the river? She shook her head and looked down, she saw Ren and Nora standing with Gormez's squad looking at the south wall, that's when she noticed that it was bulging in, they were trying to break through the wall.

Jaune was still backing up against the Plaguebearer; he needed a way to inflict a lot of damage quick otherwise he wasn't going to make it. What's worse was he couldn't strike its chest because his own shield was stuck in it, ironically protecting it from him. It swung on him again and he barely managed to keep its arm from hitting him by using the flat surface of Crocea Mors to stop and push it away. Sadly he was tiring fast, and he knew that while it was technically more wounded than him he was going to collapse out of exhaustion before it got even winded.

It raised its arm once more and in an overhead swung came at him, Jaune sidestepped just in time to avoid it but the slick surface of the walkway from the rain caused him to slip backwards and smash the back of his head against a railing. While he knew he wasn't seriously hurt it was still enough to disorient him. He looked up to see the Plaguebearer raise its foot up to smash his head.

It never came, a shock of red hair flew into his vision, Pyrrha had blindsided the Daemon, first capitalizing the wound on its shoulder that Jaune had made. It entire arm fell away, more tainted blood spurted out of its wound but Pyrrha had already stepped away, changing Miló to its javelin form and stabbed into its right knee, the blade tore through with ease. Instead of pulling it back out she pushed it to the side tearing it free and leaving the leg hanging on by a few strands of muscle and skin.

This gave Jaune the chance to get up once more and swing his own blade at the other knee, and it went through completely, and the Plaguebearer fell with its legs cut out from underneath it. Jaune turned his sword to point down and stepped over it and started to stab down repeatedly, knowing that these monsters were highly durable.

Pyrrha watched as Jaune stabbed its back over and over again, slowly turning its back into a tangle mess of rotten flesh and bones. He stepped away from it and looked at Pyrrha who immediately stepped up to him and patted him slightly as she checked for any wounds on him.

"Pyrrha, I'm fine." She didn't look up but instead continue to scan his body.

"I just wanna check, from what your father told us these things are riddled with diseases, I don't want you to catch some weird infection or sickness." He grabbed her hand with his free one and she stopped finally looking at him, and he hugged her.

"I know Pyrrha, thank you for looking out for me but we need to focus right now." She realized that she had totally forgotten that they were currently being besieged by more of these creatures. A loud series of thumps followed quickly by explosions and small arms fire opened up in the courtyard. They both looked down to see Ren and Nora firing at the breached section of the wall.

Nora was steadily shooting at any daemons that appeared in the hole and while her explosives were sufficient in putting them down she didn't have many shells and nothing that the Arcadian military employed was usable for Magnhild. As always Ren had StormFlower in hand was blasting away at anything that managed to get through, behind him over thirty other soldiers three of whom were armed with heavy stubbers were also shooting, the noise of deafening. On the opposite wall Jaune could see a Sabre gun being turned around; the quad heavy stubber gun emplacement was surely going to keep anything from breaching their fire line.

As always the universe was going to fuck him over, Pyrrha tapped Jaune's hand and he looked at her.

"Jaune if they're just now breaking through the wall, how did that one get up here?" She said nodding over at the corpse of the Plaguebearer which they had stepped farther away from due to the stench. Jaune could see a cold lump form in his stomach as gurgling laughter and screaming came further down the wall and they both turned to see four Plaguebearers chopping into the wall defenders. One Plaguebearer started to even bend the barrels of the Sabre gun to render it useless.

"Shit, Pyrrha we need to regroup with Nora and Ren now." He said as he ran back over to the Plaguebearer they killed and slowly started to turn it over. Even now he could feel his hands slipping not from the lack of grip or the rain but the skin was so rotten and decayed that it came apart like wet paper. After a few moments Pyrrha joined in and soon they had it on its back, Pyrrha stepped back as she started to gag from the overwhelming stench. Jaune held his breath as much as he could and took the handle of his shield and started pulling, after few moments it came away with a pop.

He looked back down the wall and saw that more Plaguebearers were starting to climb over, however another Sabre platform had finally turned around and started to fire. A flurry of tracers from the gun emplacement tore right into the Plaguebearers, the heavy caliber rounds ripping holes, chunks of flesh and limbs off the Plaguebearers. Jaune knew that the firepower of the Sabre wasn't going to hold them for long though.

He turned to Pyrrha who had finally stopped gagging and waited until she met his eyes, he nodded to her and both of them soon ran down the steps to join their teammates.

"Jaune what's the plan!?" Ren called out as he reloaded his dual pistols, the sound of gunfire making him yell to be heard.

"I got nothing yet but we're probably going to have to make a break for the airfields soon!" Jaune replied as he stood between Ren and Nora, off to the side he could hear Nora laughing maniacally, before she started to grow quiet.

"Nora! How many shots do you have left?" There was a thumping sound as she sent one more shell hurtling towards a Plaguebearer, the shell slammed into its exposed belly sticking out from its intestines before a second later exploding into a bloody mist.

"Uh…that was the last one." She said as she turned Magnhild into its hammer form, Jaune looked to Ren, who shook his head.

"I only have a few more magazines before I'm out also." Pyrrha stepped up and started blasting with her rifle.

"I've got plenty left but it's judging by how durable they are it's not going to last long." More screaming could be heard and Jaune looked up to see that another section of the wall had Plaguebearers climbing over, chopping men and women apart with massive blades and axes. Gunfire holding back the Plaguebearers from coming through the breach in the wall lessened as they were diverted to this new threat.

"Ren go find Gormez and help her find a ride for us out of here, Nora, Pyrrha with me." Jaune said as he readied his sword, Pyrrha took up a spot on his right and Nora to his left, looking at each other they nodded and charged the Plaguebearers once more. Pyrrha and Jaune pulled to the front to meet the first of them.

Pyrrha switched to her javelin and threw it as hard as she could; it punctured the skull so far the tip of the blade poked out of the back of its head. She used her semblance to twist it in the wound and pulled it by the tip of the blade back having it go up and slice through the skull as it traveled back for her hand to catch it.

She immediately jumped forward once more as she got closer and jabbed her javelin through its chest before pulling it back out and quickly switching to Xiphos and twirling around the creature she swung down along the spine leaving a foot long gash that not only exposed the spine but also broke it by carving through the bone. A second swing then took the arm that was holding an axe off at the shoulder before stepping to its left and swinging horizontally digging the blade a foot deep as it passed through its chest and erupted out of the front.

She switched the sword direction and stabbed it in the sternum, before gripping the handle with both hands and pulled down, bone and flesh gave as she carved another foot long gash that spilled its guts on the ground. At first Pyrrha thought that she was going to have to continue to strike at it but it slowly stepped back and fell down. She didn't waste any time as it did and immediately set after the next one.

Jaune on the other hand wasn't even close to being as skilled as a blade like Pyrrha so he was much slower in taking his first one down. Alternating between taking hits with his shield that pushed him back in the rain soaked mud and striking back to goad the Plaguebearer into attacking until he could figure out how it attack. Once he understood he slowly worked his way into cutting off parts of its limbs and placing multiple stabs through its torso before it finally died but by that time he killed his first one Pyrrha was already finished killing her seventh Plaguebearer.

Nora had different experience; while her weapon didn't having the piercing or cutting potential that Crocea Mors and Miló had its true strength relied on two factors, the ammunition used and her strength.

With the explosive power of her pink dust grenades Nora had the ability to engage both at range and in close combat, obviously in the grenade launcher form she was able to pelt targets from afar with fiery pink explosions. However if she attacked them in close combat she could use the grenades explosive properties to further damage an opponent by exploding on contact or using it to boost her hammers speed at the last second allowing for a faster and more powerful hit. Even without Nora's grenades to boost its effects Nora's strength and the durability of Magnhild it made sure that it was indeed deadly as a mundane weapon.

With that being said she hit the first Plaguebearer in the chest and the hammer broke through obliterating the entire torso and right arm of the daemon. In an almost comical scene both the Plaguebearers and humans around her stopped to look at her, surprise evident on their faces. Nora on the other hand just shrugged and jumped at another Plaguebearer smashing its arms to bits as it tried to defend against her attack which she followed by smashing its legs from underneath it and proceed to send it flying into the wall where it splattered against.

Jaune however knew that her strength alone will not turn the tide, while Nora was a hyperactive individual that Jaune sometimes felt could practically alter reality itself and had the strength to match it. She had the downside of growing tired quickly in a fight, while she's a tough opponent who often beat who ever she faces in terms of strength if they're able to keep up with her strength like Yang or were faster than her like Ruby or just better in general like Pyrrha. She would lose, and in this case once that happens they'll be one down and that means they'll actually be two down because Jaune would be forced to have Ren guard her.

After what felt like an hour, Ren finally came back into view, he had spent the last of his ammo so he most was slashing away at Plaguebearers when Jaune saw him.

"Ren! Did you find anything!?" Jaune called out as he raised his shield to block an axe from a Plaguebearer, his shield arm had gone numb long ago. He angled his shield to point left that gave him an opening to cut through the wrist of the daemon. Ren came from behind using StormFlower to cut either side of the Plaguebearers head to cut it into three parts, Jaune moved out of the way just as Nora came from behind him to smash her hammer down.

The blow turned its chest into a loose mass of broken bones and ripped flesh. Pyrrha came from their left swinging Miló down to shake off the spoiled blood of the daemons from her blade.

"Yea, me and Gormez found a couple of Venators that were parked in a garage, I've got the keys and they seem to be fueled and in working order." He said as he handed Jaune one set of keys, he pocketed them and looked around, not many of the soldiers were still alive. No one was left alive on the walls and it seemed a few pockets were still fighting around them but the Plaguebearers were closing in on them fast. Jaune could see the white hair Lieutenant from before screaming as a three and a half meter tall Plaguebearer grip her arms and legs and pulled her apart at the waist.

"Where's Gormez?" Jaune asked as they started to move towards the maintenance hangar that housed Venators, Ren shook his head, and Jaune knew that meant she was dead. They saw the building where the Venators were stored, the main door was closed but Ren pointed up at a ladder that led to the roof. Ren went up first followed by Nora, Pyrrha went next despite arguing otherwise but Jaune told her to go anyways as he kept a few Plaguebearers away as long as he could before going himself.

Once he was up there Nora smashed the top of the ladder away from the building, though Jaune secretly doubted it would actually stop them but he couldn't say that out loud, he didn't need to be breaking his team's morale. As they entered the building from the roof Jaune could see that there really wasn't anyone left inside, and the lack of gunfire outside could only mean one thing. After a few moments they found the room where the Venators and Jaune also found out what happened to Gormez and her squad.

The decaying corpse of three Plaguebearer were scattered around, one was leaning against the hangar door, another was splattered on the wall and a third was in the back. Two had signs of standard rifle wounds, no doubt were killed by the soldiers. The one that leaned against the hangar door had blade wounds and smaller caliber bullet wounds. Ren must have killed that one; he pointed at it and looked at Ren.

"That was the one that killed Gormez." Ren walked over by the Venators and pointed between them.

Jaune stepped over and saw Gormez, he didn't remove her helmet but she knew it was her by the sergeant stripes on her arm. Well the one that was still attached to her body, she had been split from her right shoulder down to her groin, broken bones and pulverized organs were spilling out of her body. Her rifle lay just out of hands reach, there wasn't any magazine in it, was she trying to reload her weapon when she died, Jaune didn't know but he needed to focus on the task at hand.

"Alright since there's four of us and the Venators only seat three people that means we're going to need to split into pairs, Nora and Ren, pick a driver and a gunner, Pyrrha you're with me, whoever's gunning I'll help set up the heavy stubber to fire for you." Nora jumped and down squealing in joy.

"OH! OH! Ren I'm soooooooo driving!" She reached out with both hands waiting for Ren to give her the keys, but Ren held on to them.

"Uh, Nora wouldn't you rather fire the big gun?"

"Pfffffffft that thing can't compare to Magnhild, though if it was like the guns on the walls then maybe but these ones are just not the same, besides you're a better shot than me when it comes to these sorts of weapons, I'd just waste ammo." Jaune and Ren exchanged looks, Nora wasn't wrong in that sense. Almost reluctantly Ren gave her the keys. Jaune showed Ren the basics on firing the weapon and how to reload it; he nodded his thanks and sat there waiting. Nora apparently had figured out how to start the Venator and was sitting giddily in the driver seat.

"Oops, almost forgot the seat belt!" She cried out and buckled her seatbelt and gave Pyrrha a wink.

"Safety first." Pyrrha sighed as she turned to Jaune.

"So you want me on top?" Everyone stopped and Pyrrha blushed in embarrassment as she registered what she said.

"I-I-I mean shooting t-t-the gun!" She squeaked, Nora started to laugh hysterically and Ren just shook his head a small smile on his face with amusement, Jaune's face was red also. For a second they all forgot that they were in the middle of a fort that was teeming with demonic creatures.

"Wait…Jaune how are we getting out of here?" Ren asked a look of confusion on his face.

"What do you mean? We're driving out?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune showed her the basic function of firing and reloading the heavy stubber, he stopped as he registered Ren's words.

"Shit…No Pyrrha he means how are we leaving, the gates are still closed and I'm not sure where the breach in the wall leads, if we went out it we might just end up in the river or a huge fall that'll kill us."

"Oh…" Jaune walked around the hanger looking for something, but there wasn't anything that they could use to break out of the gate, the heavy stubbers wouldn't do anything, ramming it would only damage the Venators, Nora didn't have any explosives left. That's when it dawned on him, he turned to the nearest body and kneeled next to it, he lifed the corpse to the side.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha called out, the fact Jaune was touching a dead body no longer seemed to bother her. He turned around a smile wide on his face and he held up a grey tube with something sticking from the side.

"What is it?" She asked Nora peered from her seat before a look of excitement grew on her face.

"It's a bomb!" She shouted and unbuckled her seat and grabbed it out of Jaune's hand, he smiled.

"That's right Nora, and it's also our ticket out of here, we gather all the tube charges, combine them, Nora throws it at the gate and hopefully it blasts it open so we can get out of here." She stepped in front of Jaune, her eyes beaming with energy.

"DO I REALLY?"

"Yes Nora you're kind of our explosive expert, you've got the strength to throw it." Pyrrha frowned slightly.

"Wait wouldn't it be safer for me to do it? It's a metal tube so I should be able to throw them with my semblance." Jaune looked at his partner.

"True but your semblance might make the detonator malfunction causing it to either blow up killing us both or not go off at all, plus Nora likes explosions so why not let her be the one to do it." Pyrrha thought for a moment.

"Yea not blowing up and dying would be nice and you make a good point with Nora's fascination with explosions." So Jaune went over the plan, he and Pyrrha would take the lead to clear a path to the gate, and continue to circle the courtyard in hopes of drawing as much attention to them. When they draw as much attention as they can Nora and Ren were to drive straight for the gate, Ren was to keep his finger off the trigger as much as he could, only shoot to kill what directly threatens them or the objective.

Soon enough Jaune was seating in the driver seat of the Venator, the steady rumble of the engine sending vibrations up his leg and he could feel a hollow sensation in his stomach, sweat beaded down his face and his hands felt clammy.

"Ready!?" He called out to his friends.

"I was born ready for this Fearless Leader!" Nora called out.

"I'm ready!" Pyrrha said from the gunner seat of their Venator.

"Ready!" Ren called out from the very back, Jaune nodded to himself and trigger the remote activation for the door.

The moment it was high enough for him to drive under without Pyrrha hitting the edge, he hit the accelerator, the tires spun for a brief second before they got traction and they shot out of the garage. The first Plaguebearer turned to see what the noise was and Jaune hit it, it exploded in a shower of gore but thankfully the windshield was intact and he could see enough out of it.

"Ewwwwwwwwww! Jaune try not to do that again!" Pyrrha yelled from the back, Jaune grimaced as he realized that she probably got hit by something gross, she most likely be mad at him for that later.

"Sorry!" He yelled back as he swerved around another Plaguebearer, Pyrrha didn't reply and instead opted to start shooting the heavy stubber. The initial burst put a slight strain of force that was enough to start tilting the Venator a little but thankfully the tires went back to touch the ground and soon enough they were near the gate. Jaune slide the Venator to a halt, and called out to Pyrrha.

"Keep shooting, we'll continue moving after more charge us!" He yelled, but he didn't know if she heard him or replied because she immediately started to fire again, and Jaune watched as long streams of gunfire chewed through the Plaguebearers. Their numbers started to grow and Jaune could tell that Pyrrha was just holding down the trigger, sweeping it left and right.

As they crowded around them and Jaune figured that would be the best time to move. He weaved in between Plaguebearers trying not to hit them head on, occasionally he'd clip a few but it'd have disastrous effects on them, shredding portions of their bodies. In the distance he could see Nora and Ren speeding off towards the gates, Nora was driving with one hand and the other was carrying eight tube charges that they had tied together with tape.

He watched as she slowed down near the gate and primed them all at once, and tossed it towards the gate. She immediately sat back down and gunned the Venator around and started speeding towards them. Ren was blasting away at Plaguebearers that tried to get on board, though he must not have minded the gore as much as Pyrrha. He must have known that Nora was going to do that because she went right through them without a care in the world and he didn't complain.

It wasn't a moment later that a massive explosion went off at the base of the gate; the shockwave was so powerful it rocked their Venators. Jaune could have sworn that it seemed like the rain had stopped before once more falling back down. Any Plaguebearers close to the explosion were shredded by shrapnel, others sailed through the air. After the cloud of smoked clear he was elated to see that the gates were blasted apart, big enough for both Venators to go through side by side even, he pointed at the gate as he caught Nora's attention and she grinned back at him.

They both took off towards the gate, and Jaune could hear Pyrrha yelling something, like go faster, but he wasn't really sure because his ears were still ringing from the explosion. Soon enough both Venators had made it out of the Fort. They didn't stop until they were at least three or four miles away and they started to slow down, Nora pulled up next to Jaune as he stepped out of the Venator legs shaking slightly at the ordeal. She picked him up in a massive bear hug that felt like his spine was going to break.

"That was soooo fun! Fearless Leader we gotta do that again." Jaune just looked blankly at Nora who shrugged sheepishly after Ren separated her arms from around him and his poor spine.

"Never mind." Pyrrha and Ren jumped down from the gunner seats of the Venators. Pyrrha had broken the heavy stubber; the barrels even now were slightly glowing from getting over heated and wilted a little. They all turned around and looked at the hell they had just come out off, even from this distance they could see the Fort was crawling with daemons, even farther back an orange glow could be seen in the morning light of Leflore burning. Jaune felt empty inside as the adrenaline wore off, thousands were dead, a whole battalion gone, Saul was missing, maybe even dead, and now he had to get back to Beacon while leaving a horde of Plaguebearers running practically unchecked in the southern regions of Sanus.

For once it seemed the world was on his side, Pyrrha grabbed his arm and pointed up.

"Jaune look up there, what are those?" Jaune looked up the sky was still pretty cloudy and grey with all the rain but he could see three cross like shapes in the air, a bunch of tiny dots could be seen falling from them. There was something about those shapes that tugged at his memory, he's seen something like that at a Arcadian Military Parade at the annual celebration of Arcadia's founding and that's when it clicked.

"Marauders…" All three of his teammates looked at him with confusion, of course they've never heard of them. In a matter of moments though the horizon where Leflore lay burning multiple flashes could be seen followed by a rolling wave of thunder louder than the fighting they had heard in the previous hours.

"What's going on?" Ren asked, as he stepped closer to Jaune, curiosity was written all over his face and Jaune just smiled as he remembered something he heard Saul say earlier.

"Arcadian Bombers, capable of carrying ten thousand pounds of ordnance, enough to flatten Leflore I think and wipe out the Plaguebearers no doubt inside the town limits, Saul called for the nearest aerial unit to provide Close Air Support for them, seems like he changed it to a saturation bombing in case we failed." All four teens watched as another set of black dots appeared closer overhead, Jaune stepped back.

"Shit they're going to bomb the Fort now." Jaune said, Nora smiled wide in anticipation of seeing this show closer, Pyrrha and Ren both had looks on concern on their faces.

"Jaune is it really safe to be here?" Pyrrha asked as she stepped closer to him, he flashed her, a reassuring smile.

"Ah well technically we shouldn't really watch the initial flashes cause they could cause damage to the retinas but we Aura we should be fine." Ren raised an eyebrow at that.

"Should?" Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Weelll that's what I hear that soldiers are supposed to do but I'm can't actually remember what they said about people with aura…I guess we should make sure we don't watch it as it explo…" Jaune didn't get to finish his sentence when a series of flashes went off before them and the Fort was obliterated.

Each bomb engulfed a portion of the Fort in a fiery explosion but many more bombs landed around it destroying the land. Each explosion was like a thunder clap of sound, the resulting shock wave was like a strong breeze even though they were miles away. Soon enough as the flashes and explosions died down they got a good look of the area.

The Fort was reduced to almost done, the wooden walls were gone; all that remained was the stone foundations which also were left as broken chunks. The buildings that could still be seen were nothing but piles of charred broken wood. The land surrounding the fort was littered with craters; the grass was burnt away leaving the ground black with embers burning in patches here and there.

"Wow." Even Nora was shocked at the scale of destruction; Pyrrha was also shocked and worried a little. If they had this kind of firepower, she honestly didn't think anyone could truly fight them and win. All of the Kingdoms combined might win in a war but they would no doubt come out shattered as victors of such a bloody conflict. Something caught her attention in the corner of her eye, and she turned to her right and saw three black dots coming towards them.

"Uh Jaune, I think more of those bomber things are coming straight towards us." Jaune snapped his head around and looked where she pointed.

"Shit maybe they're planning on bombing the grasslands to be safe, everyone get into the Venators, now." No one said anything as they scrambled back into the Venators, the moment Pyrrha was strapped into next to him; he hit the pedal and sped off towards the direction of the airfield with Nora and Ren behind him.

Instead of bombers though it was in fact three Bullheads, Jaune started to slow down and the lead Bullhead stopped in front of their Venator and turned to the side. The side hatch opened up and Jaune saw a familiar purple armored giant.

"Saul!" Jaune cried out, a wave of relief washed through him, the purple giant stepped off the craft behind him a Sisterhood squad stepped off the Bullhead with him. Jaune and his team climbed out of the Venators and walked towards him their weapons holstered. The Sisterhood squad started to spread out and watch the surrounding landscape, Saul was carrying a massive bolter in his hands and wore a red helmet; Jaune recalled seeing it tag with the number four stenciled one time as a kid when he visited Saul. As he got closer, Jaune could see that he must have had a difficult fight himself, there was several scratch marks were on his chest place, and his right pauldron had two gashes in it, he reached up to remove his helmet.

"Jaune, I'm so glad to see you're still alive, when I heard that the Marauders were here I took off to look for you as quick as I can." Saul said with a small smile and gently placed his gauntlet on his shoulder.

"How are you alive? Where did these sisters come from? Did anyone else make it?" Saul started to laugh and gestured for the other members of team JNPR to follow him.

"Slow down Jaune, I can only answer one at a time." They walked into the Bullhead, the sisters followed them aboard the Bullhead and soon they started off towards the airfields, Saul turned to regard Jaune.

"Alright Jaune, to answer your first question, I'm alive because of the valiant sacrifice the men and women of the 1st Battalion, they remained in the city as I led a the remaining population of Leflore out of danger, Lieutenant Colonel Calivro died a brave man and I hope to write him down in the annuls the first chance I get." Pyrrha spoke up as he finished.

"Wait you got the people out?" Surprise evident in her voice, Saul nodded.

"Yes I was able to lead them away as the Battalion fought a last stand in the administration building. Though not many people were alive, in fact I only made it out several hundred people out of a population of ten thousand, so it was still a defeat." Pyrrha nodded, once again a solemn look on her face at the thought of so many dead.

"So who are these chicks?" Nora asked next pointing a thumb at the other passengers, who were busy ogling Jaune, but other than that chose to remain silent.

"The Sisterhood here came with the relief force that arrived roughly an hour ago." Saul said and Jaune snapped his head up.

"Relief force?!" Saul nodded once more.

"As word spread that Leflore was under siege by Daemons of the Unclean one, General Galahad dispatched the nearest force to respond, so now Major General Kermellon with his 7th Division is currently setting up a beachhead at the Airfield with the 12th and 14th Infantry Regiments and elements of the 11th Heavy Armor, on top of that they've got the 4th Air Squadron to run bombing and Close Air Support missions with Marauders and Avengers as for why the Sisterhood is here. Canoness Commander Victoria is here with her full command of two hundred sisters, though enough of that when we get to the airfield you'll be switching Bullheads and go back to Vale, you've completed your mission and much more, so rejoice in that young ones you've lived through your first siege and battle." Saul said, Jaune wasn't sure if he should be upset or not but looking at his friends he could tell that they were exhausted, for now they were the ones he needed to look out for, so he just nodded to Saul, who smiled once more.

Soon enough they reached the airfields and they stared in awe at the sight before them. Thousands of soldiers roamed the field, marching into formation behind tanks. Chimeras stuck with the infantry ready to take on passengers, Venators were far out acting as pickets. Predators, Tank Hunters, and Hydra's were lined up ready to push forward ahead of the infantry and Chimeras.

In the back Jaune could even see more tanks with open tops that had really long barrels, and had a massive blast shields near the breech that were fixed to the top of the chassis. He could see people loading shells into them, and they would aim the barrel high into the air and fire. The bright streaks of shells flew through the air towards Leflore.

"There's so many…" Ren whispered, Saul who was also looking at the assembled force smiled, but it was smile that adults would have when kids say something is awesome but in reality the adult has seen something that wasn't all that awe inspiring for they were used to even bigger sights.

Soon enough the Bullhead was starting to land in a throng of other aircraft and everyone got off the Bullhead, the Sisterhood squad waved at Jaune as they walked away. Jaune waved back, he wasn't sure why they were waving and he didn't understand why Pyrrha looked upset either but those were questions for later. Saul led them to another Bullhead, this one wasn't in the black color of the Arcadian Bullheads nor did it have the Arc symbol.

They quietly piled into the Bullhead, no one else was in there, and the pilot was saying something about how they'll be back in Vale in about seven hours. No one really cared, they were all tired, sore, hungry, covered in dirt, sweat and blood. Nora and Ren were asleep within minutes of the Bullhead taking off, Pyrrha leaned her head against Jaune, and he didn't move in order to prevent waking her up. It wasn't until an hour later that she woke up with a sudden realization.

"Jaune?" He had his eyes closed as he leaned his head back in his seat.

"Hmm? Yea Pyr?"

"You're not getting sick…" He opened his eyes at that, it's been sometime on the Bullhead but he didn't feel sick at all like normal.

"Huh…Maybe nearly getting sick over and over again for the last 12 hours somehow cured me." Pyrrha hummed her acknowledgment at the possibility and rested her head against his shoulder again.

"Probably shouldn't tell people with that they should go fight daemons with rotting grotesque bodies that could rip and tear them apart, to cure their air sickness." Jaune joked as he closed his eyes once more; Pyrrha laughed slightly.

She was no longer disturbed at such a joke anymore after witnessing horrific daemons from the darkest nightmares possible come and butcher people in horrible ways. It seemed wrong to laugh but she couldn't help it nonetheless all she cared for was being with Jaune at that moment he still sparked that familiar emotion of affection in her chest but now it was so much more intense after experiencing that life or death nightmare.

As Jaune sat there with Pyrrha resting against him, he couldn't help but feel that maybe his luck was finally turning around. Though he should have known that life was never going to be easy for him and what he didn't know was that he was walking from one hell to another.

* * *

 **Wow...**

 **This was a fucking long chapter...**

 **Anyways I hope you enjoyed it I'll try to have the next chapter out as soon as I can.**

 **Also Saul's helmet belongs to a Mark 4 Imperial Maximus suit of Power Armor, so there's that.**

 **The Predator is really just a Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. H and the Tank Hunter is just the German Panther Tank, cause I always felt the design of the 40k Imperial Guard or Astra Militarum main battle tanks for the most part were a bit strange, so I was like fuck it and I picked something else and considering what the Imperium of Man is like I went for the Germans.**

 **Anyways leave a comment and review if you liked or disliked anything I'm always willing to respond to them individual or address them collectively in the next chapter, till then enjoy!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Qrow stood in the train compartment with his sword at the ready, across from him Roman Torchwick stood with a gash on his arm, and blooding trickling from his nose.

The Arcs had started their attack in the early morning, firefights raged in the once vacant streets of Mountain Glenn. Even then despite being vastly outnumbered the Arcadian infantry and tanks support by three squads of the Sisterhood all led by Sanian Arc withstood everything the White Fang and the Grimm threw at them.

Though the number of Grimm flowing around the streets of Mountain Glenn had started to take a massive toll on the not the manpower but ammunition. The standard magazine for the Agripinaa rifle only had thirty five rounds in it and a full equipped soldier had fifteen magazines in total while some may choose to take more most opted not to because it felt too cumbersome to move. So while the solid shot weapons of the Arcadian military were surprisingly powerful they were still limited by the amount ammunition they had on hand.

The Predators and Hunter also only had so many shells to fire for their main cannons, and their secondary weapons used against infantry or other soft targets were going just as quick. Soon enough they would end up being walking barriers against small arms fire for the infantry though Qrow figured they could also just ram the Grimm, but he didn't know a thing so he kept it to himself.

However it was due to a lucky and very unlucky incident that saw the Tank Hunter fall through the ground into a massive cavern as it chased a group of White Fang grunts through the streets. From there the remaining Predators set up a defensive line around the hole. Qrow, the Sisterhood squads and a platoon of Arcadian infantry rappelled down the hole into the underground caverns. Sanian elected to stay on the surface with the rest of the company to hold off the Grimm chasing them.

They proceeded to cut down the remaining White Fang that they could find it wasn't before till Qrow spotted the train and quickly put together what they might be trying to do. With Muril by his side, Qrow and a Sisterhood Squad got onboard the train as it started to pull away from them. Though that was the moment that the White Fang's new allies chose to appear. Qrow watched as a horde of pink monstrosities charged into the Arcadian Platoon and remaining Sisterhood soldiers as the train sped away.

He didn't stay to watch them as gunfire erupted from the Sisterhood soldiers as they started to open fire on more White Fang that were crawling on top of the train cars. Though there was something different about them, they looked off, Qrow wasn't sure what was different but the way they looked and acted was more, feral in a sense. He never found out what it was when a mechanized walker jumped climbed onto the train compartments ahead of them.

He wasn't surprised to see that the Sisterhood soldiers were able to take them down; two of them had strange looking weapons that they pulled off their backs. When they fired them, a searing lance of energy smashed into the first walker and in a shower of sparks a red hot molten hole was seen in the driver canopy.

Muril however was the one to rain on their parade when she had opened the first compartment hatch she found and saw what looked to be a massive bomb in it. She called Qrow over to see what she had found and he looked inside, he wasn't sure what the White Fang were planning. That was the moment when they felt the car jerk and start to pull away. The Sisterhood squad had already advanced as they continued to finish off the White Fang grunts and Walkers. Qrow and Muril quickly followed and as they did more and more cars were decoupled, Qrow watched as the detached cars exploded in bright flashes opening holes in the tunnel system.

Grimm were coming through the holes and charging after the train, Qrow finally put together the last piece of the puzzle to what they were doing. The train was connected to Vale during the Mountain Glenn expansion for workers to move back and forth. But the tunnel was sealed off after the fall and now the White Fang was trying to open it up and lead a bunch of Grimm into the unsuspecting heart of Vale. He needed to stop the train as soon as he could, he called them all back inside, save for the two Sisters with the weird energy guns who were blasting away at the walkers.

What they hadn't expected to see was a tri-colored girl with a pink parasol standing in their way, for some reason he thought of Neapolitan ice cream when he saw her. She frowned slightly when she saw Qrow but Muril and the Sisterhood soldiers with him told him to get a move on and stop the train, and all of them charged the small girl. Qrow just casually ran past the fight, he watched from the corner of his eye as the girl acrobatically flipped past or over all their strikes. He figured that they could probably hold her off long enough for him to stop the train.

He met another person a few cars later who wielded a rather long chainsaw; Qrow wasn't impressed as he was with the girl. The man revved his choice of weapon and charged him; swinging in an overhead arc the blade missed him but a few inches. Qrow backed up closer to the wall and he swung again but this time the chainsaw went through the wall and immediately got stuck, the rotating blades grinded against the metal but were unable to cut it. Qrow kicked him in the side of his temple and the man fell like a bag of rocks to the floor.

After pass through a few more cars he finally met the notorious Roman Torchwick, the man was clever, escaping both the Police and even a few Hunters. So Qrow took him marginally more serious than he had with the White Fang guy with the chainsaw and soon enough they clashed blades, or well in this case blade and cane.

It soon became apparent that despite him being skilled in what he does and being able to fend off or avoid justice, he was ultimately no match for Qrow. After a few minutes Roman had barely managed to evade and parry the rain of furious blows that Qrow sent his way. Now he was leaning against the door to the controls breathing hard while Qrow just stood there with his sword held loosely in his hands.

"Just give up man, seriously this is just sad."

"Ah well if you excuse me for not wanting to spend time behind some bars but I'm going to have to respectfully decline." Qrow sighed, Torchwick did put up a decent display for the first few minute but ultimately he wasn't a true fighter with a dumb weapon like a cane though he'd never let Ozpin know that, he'd kick Qrow's ass any day.

Without a word, he lifted his cane from the hip and fired twice; Qrow sidestepped the first one and used the flat of his sword to protect himself from the second shot. He could see the handle of Melodic Cudgel gripped his handle and pull the sword from him, Qrow smiled as he let go of his sword and instead kicked it forward into Roman, while not enough to hurt it still gave Qrow the opening to punch him in the nose.

"Arrrrrgh! Really!? Why the nose!" Roman yelled as he fell back clutching his face, Qrow just rolled his eyes and leaned over to punch Roman once more in the face, causing his head to snap back and hit the metal floor. Qrow dusted his hands, and picked up his sword, he opened the door to the control room and looked inside; there was no one in there. Worst of all he could see that the controls were all smashed, he wasn't going to be able to stop the train with the time they had left.

"Fuck." He said sighed as he pulled out his trusty flask to take a drink from but he sound of a woman screaming came from behind him before being cut off midway. He almost forgot about the short girl from before, he had left the ladies and Muril to take her down as he went after Roman alone.

He ran through the train compartments and opened a door to see that the short girl was in the middle of pulling a thin sword out from the throat of a woman. Three more were already dead on the floor; one had a gaping hole that went right through her left eye. Another had her head bent in an odd angle to the side, most likely a broken neck. The third one looked completely fine if it wasn't for the fact her face was tinged blue; Qrow could see a dark mark on her throat the midget had crushed her throat.

The rest save for two were scattered around the compartment, most of them had stab wounds on them in various places. The only two technically still up was the sergeant of the squad who held a gladius in her hand. Muril was also still standing with a long black colored knife but Qrow could see that she wasn't faring well; he could see what looked to be a stab wound on her left side and judging from the rasping sound of her breathing it must have meant her lung was damaged.

"Well ladies, I see everything is going pretty dandy here." Qrow spoke up as he stepped out from the door, his sword held lazily at the side. The small woman turned around and Qrow watched her mismatched eyes wide in both surprise and frustration.

"What have I taken away your ability to speak with my dazzling charm?" Qrow asked touching his chest with his free hand in mock surprise. She scowled but didn't say anything and instead jumped back and in a flash of light with the sound of glass shattering, she was gone once more.

"Well that's just bullshit." Qrow said after she was gone, the Sisterhood sergeant turned to Muril and immediately helped her to sit on the ground, Qrow moved to join them.

"You alright?" He asked as he crouched next to Muril, she looked wide eye at him as if he had just asked an incredibly stupid question.

"You gak head! You're supposed to stop Roman and the Train!"

"Oh yea… I knocked Roman out but it looks like he's a sore loser and destroyed the controls." Qrow said casually, both the Sisterhood sergeant who was applying a bandage on Muril after removed her vest and Muril herself just stared at him.

"Also we have a minute maybe two before we crash." The sergeant just shook her head in disbelief before getting up to shout at the remaining members of her squad brace for impact, Muril just continued to look at Qrow who was taking a drink from his flask.

"How is it I'm always getting into deep shit whenever you're around?" Qrow put away his flask, he could tell that they were about to hit the final barrier so he looked her straight in the eye and shrugged innocently.

"Bad Luck?"

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Something shook him awake, Jaune wasn't sure where he was and what he has been doing but he somehow opened his eyes after a great deal of effort. The first thing he saw was the metal ceiling of the Bullhead he was in, which was enough to make him recall what happened of the last twenty four hours.

The mission, the daemons, the fighting, the death, it all flooded back into his mind, he wasn't sure what he should really do panic, cry, go crazy, all of the above? All of it was forgotten though when he heard a soft mumbling sound next to him and warm air spread across his neck. He turned his head and was greeted with the sight of Pyrrha resting her head on his shoulder, his partner, friend, even girlfriend, which he still didn't know what he should do about that, he wasn't exactly experienced in that stuff maybe he could improvise?

What he was sure though was that she was beautiful, he reached up brushed a stray lock of vibrant red hair from her forehead and ran the back of his index finger down her cheek softly. The other thing he knew though, was that he liked her, a lot, the more he thought about it the stranger it felt, from what he had gathered or was told really by others was that she had liked him for a very long time. How he had never picked up on the signs still eluded him.

Yet he could also remember all the foolish things he probably did do that hurt her, him constantly trying to ask out Weiss, him yelling at her when she tried to help him, practically abandoning his team right after because of the Cardin's blackmail, and finally taking so long to notice her affections for him up until the dance. He didn't deserve her, but in truth it didn't matter what he felt about it, as long as she was happy, he'll keep that particular thought to himself.

"Jaune, you're awake." Came the voice of the other male voice of his team, Lie Ren, he stood in front of Jaune. His normally immaculate clothes were rumpled and covered in dirt and dried blood, none of it was his, yet all of it was human.

"Mhmm Ren, you've caught me, I'm awake."

"Good, but I hate to give you some bad news but the Pilot wanted to tell you that communication into Vale has gone haywire about ten minutes ago." Jaune sighed in frustration.

"Fuck, that's not good is it, was there anything he could figure out?" Ren nodded slightly.

"Yea said that Vale was shut down due to a Grimm excursion."

"What."

"My thought exactly, do you have any guess on what could be happening?" Jaune thought about it but he couldn't think of any reason for that to happen, he shook his head.

"How long till we make it back to Vale?" He asked instead, Ren took out his scroll and opened it.

"Five minutes, maybe less."

"Alright wake Nora in ten so we can get ready for whatever it is that's going on down there." Ren nodded and went back to take a seat next to Nora who was sitting completely straight yet was still sleeping without a care in the world. Jaune looked down to his sleeping partner, now would be a good a time as any to wake her.

"Pssst, Hey Pyrrha wake up." He said softly as he nudged his shoulder a little to jostle her head. Instead she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed.

"Argh! Pyrrha waake uppp." Jaune rasped but Pyrrha refused and start to mumble something about five more minutes, Jaune wasn't really sure because he was struggling to not die in her death grip on his neck.

"Pyrrha, wake up please." Ren said as he once more got up and gently tapped her shoulder, slowly her eyes opened.

"Mmmmm what time is it?" She asked drowsily, Ren smiled a little.

"It's time for Jaune's funeral if you don't let go of him." Pyrrha was confused on what he meant but soon enough she realized that she was holding onto something and turned to see that she was dripping Jaune's neck incredibly tight. She let go immediately and flushed red at the close proximity she had with Jaune, Jaune on the other gasped in relief of the torture and rubbed his neck softly.

"I'm sorry Jaune!"

"Ah it's fine Pyrrha." Jaune continued to massage his neck softly.

"So what's going on? You must have woken me for a good reason, are we landing soon?" Pyrrha asked as she stretched her back a little, Ren backed away to take his seat once more, Jaune's face darkened a little.

"Jaune?"

"We've got reason to believe that a Grimm incursion happened in Downtown Vale, the pilot said that air traffic communication was frantic with talks of Grimm." Pyrrha was surprised to hear this; a Grimm horde in the middle of Vale that's possibly the worst thing that could happen to Vale, men and women dying in droves flashed in her mind and she shuddered.

"The Police won't be able to handle something like that." She said softly mostly to herself, Jaune nodded.

"And there's not a lot of Huntsman or Huntresses in Vale more often than not so they'll be stretched so thin that Grimm are going to slip past them." Jaune said as he continued to stare at the floor in concentration.

"What about your family? They brought soldiers with them." Ren spoke up; Pyrrha nodded emphatically in agreement, before Jaune could reply Nora woke up.

"Sloth Queen!" She shouted as she jerked back in her seat, everyone just stared at her and she looked blearily at them.

"What?" Everyone just started to chuckle slightly, leave it to Nora to always be the one to lift the tension, there was a small burst of static as the cabin speaker system kicked in.

"We're coming up on Vale soon we can see the city skylines, you kids are gonna wanna see this." Jaune looked at everyone before standing up and walking to the cockpit door, the others right behind him. He opened the door and there sat two men in pilot uniforms, one man was whispering to himself as he had his head buried in his hands. An older gentleman sat next to him staring with hard eyes out the screen, Jaune followed his gaze.

"Oh no." Pyrrha whispered behind him, they could see clouds of smoke billowing up from the city in a dozen areas. Though Jaune expected more damaged to be apparent but either way it was still a terrible situation for the people of Vale.

"Pilot I want you to head into Vale and look for any sign of the Breach, now." Jaune said the man flying the Bullhead whipped his head around.

"You crazy kid, there's a bunch of Grimm down there!" He shouted, Jaune just shook his head and pointed at a King Taijitu that they could see on the docks as they flew into Vale.

"No they're dead, whatever happened is done but I want to find out where they came in from." The man looked at Jaune as if he was crazy even his team wasn't sure what he was trying to do.

"Fine kid but I ain't sticking around." Jaune smiled at that.

"That's fine you've done your job in getting us to Vale you don't need to risk yourself anymore then you need to." The man just grunted, and Jaune turned to his team.

"Gather your weapons and prepare to land, the Grimm movement may have just been contained but we don't know if there's more around." They nodded and moved back to their seats to pick up their weapons, they didn't come back with their stuff from Leflore; the rush of events prevented them to go back and get them.

"Hey Kid, come look at this!" The pilot called back to Jaune and he turned around.

"I think I found out where they got in from." The pilot said and pointed to a small square, a massive hole could be seen and a wrecked train was smashed into a building all the way across from the hole. What really caught Jaune's eye were the four distinct hair colors of team RWBY that stood in the square.

"Set us down there if you can." He said to the Pilot but something else caught his eye, high in the sky was three out of the seven Atlas warships, smaller craft buzzed in and out of it going to the city. So that's how they got the Grimm under control. Atlas no doubt deployed their own armed forces to quell the Grimm, a small part of Jaune's mind mused about how good Ironwood was going to look in protecting the city whereas Ozpin and his Hunters were lacking in any meaningful response. Even his own family was lacking a response of any nature to this threat.

"Alright! Touch down in 3…2…1…go!" The pilot shouted and Jaune turned around, grabbing Crocea Mors as he leapt out of the Bullhead, his team had already set a perimeter. Pyrrha held the center with Akoúo held in front of her and Milo in its Xiphos form, Nora was on her right with Magnhild held ready, Ren stood next to her with StormFlower in his hands, and Jaune took Pyrrha's left with his shield held at ready.

"Clear?" He asked, and he received a chorus of yes's from his team, in the distance he spotted a familiar red cloak.

"Ruby!" He shouted, and the red cloak twirled and disappeared in a shower of rose petals before his eyes.

"Jaune you're back!" Ruby shouted and slammed right into him knocking him down to the ground, the rest of team RWBY came walking over behind their young leader.

"Ow." Jaune said as he lay on the cold asphalt, Ruby sat up and blushed slightly as she realized that she was sitting on Jaune's stomach, Pyrrha scowled slightly at that but chose not to say anything.

"I'm so glad your back!"

"Uggggh it's good to be back Ruby but uh…would ya mind getting off me?" Jaune said, Ruby laughed softly before getting up.

"Sheesh you guys look like shit and we were fighting a frigging Grimm invasion." Yang commented as she eyed the state of her friends, everyone even Pyrrha was covered in mud, their clothes rumpled, bags seen under their eyes and a dark red substance seemed to coat them almost head to toe.

"It's kind of complicated." Pyrrha said softly, unable to meet their eyes, the four girls looked at each other before Nora spoke up.

"Weeellll we went to a town with a bunch of people, we looked at some walls and papers but a big Grimm horde apparently blew a hole in the wall, which now that I think about it we never did figure out how that happened, anyways Jaune's soldiers killed them but these weird sick demons or daemons not sure what we call them, well whatever they came through and we had to fight for our lives and a whole bunch of people died with explosions everywhere and the town got ruined but a bunch of soldiers came and that giant purple dinosaur guy is leading them and now they're throwing their own party without us." Everyone looked at her; Ren had a hand on his face shaking his head softly.

"Ooooooookay?" Yang said as she inched a little behind Blake away from Nora, fearing that the bubbly girl had somehow gotten her hands on syrup or worse, sugar, again.

"Demons seriously? Did you all hit your heads or catch Arc's stupidity?" Weiss snapped at Nora, who just shrugged.

"Jeez _Weiss_ -cream if you get too heated you might melt." Yang asked as she crossed her arms, a slight look of annoyance spreading across her visage, Weiss just rolled her eyes and gave Jaune a disgusted look.

"I just find it convenient that the Arc's moved all their people out of Vale before the attack starts, and Jaune was sent out also on some mission which probably was just a leisurely trip for him." Yang saw in the corner of her eye the faces of team JNPR darken at that, she scooted a little behind Blake for safety.

"I'd advise you to be careful on what you say next Weiss…" Jaune said a little more softly the feeling of contempt emitting from him practically oozed into the air, Ruby and Yang exchanged looks.

"Yea whatever Arc, as if I'm going to listen to the son of a coward who lets others die while he…" Weiss never finished what she was going to say because a fist hammered into her cheek sending her to the floor.

"WHOA!" Yang stepped in front of Pyrrha and grabbed her wrists but the Champion slowly pushed her back, the look of utter rage shown in her eyes scared Yang, it was the first time she ever seen such rage and blood thirst in her friend.

Even Ren and Nora, the most stoic and happy of the eight had almost uncharacteristic looks on her faces. Nora looked like she was itching to use Magnhild on them, her hands twitching softly as she held the urge in check barely. Ren while a lot more restrained then his close friend had the look of someone who saw a disgusting object that they wished to rid of as soon as possible.

"That's enough." Jaune said simply as he stepped forward setting a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, she with a visible reluctance stopped and stood straight with her hands to her sides. Nora and Ren moved to take up position behind Jaune, for he was the only one that seemed to have a cool head.

"What's wrong with you guys? Why would you attack Weiss like that!?" Yang asked loudly, outrage and surprise coloring her voice, what the hell was happening? Weiss sat up on the ground rubbing her jaw softly, Ruby crouched next to her ready to help if she needed it. Blake stood next to Yang; her heart was hammering in her chest as she mentally prepared to stop them.

"Well excuse me if I don't appreciate someone slandering the Arc's and what they've done." Pyrrha snapped and she crossed her arms and turned away.

"Well if they're so great how come they didn't come to help Vale, at least Atlas came to help us." Weiss said as Ruby helped her stand up; even with aura a slight dark spot of a bruise could be seen as it slowly started to fade away.

"Probably because they have other threats to deal with and besides it's not like they brought a Fleet into another Kingdoms territory. Atlas twisted Vale's arm into making the Arc's to be only as auxiliaries to Ironwood's command." Ren said a little more heatedly then they thought possible, Jaune once again turned around to and placed his hands on Ren's shoulders to calm him before looking back at team RWBY.

"It doesn't matter now, while I'm sorry that Pyrrha hit you, I think it's best if we went our separate ways for now, patience is at its end for us." Jaune said calmly as he nodded to his team and turned back to them, giving them all blank stares, nodding to each of them except for Weiss who he ignored. They all silently walked away, Pyrrha continued to stare with disdain at Weiss for a little while before they disappeared from sight.

"Well it seems Arc's barbarism as rubbed off on the others; even a renowned Champion fighter like Pyrrha has sunken to it." Weiss spat venomously as she watched the streets, people were teeming around looking at the dead Grimm or the damage, and Professor Goodwitch had arrived to repair the hole with her semblance.

"I don't know Weiss you were being a total bitch I can kind of understand why they got mad but I didn't think Pyrrha would punch you like that." Yang said as she brushed some hair out her face, it's been a long day but now it's getting worse by the second with Weiss pissing off their friends.

"Guys…Did no one notice how they looked?" Blake asked the first thing she said since team JNPR got there, everyone just shook their heads.

"They were covered in blood." This brought them all to a stop, and slowly each girl realized that their friends looked in a worse state than them and they were the ones that just fought a bunch of Grimm invading the city.

"I…I don't think it belonged to them also." Ruby spoke up; they stood there wondering what they had encountered on their mission and if it was what frayed their tempers so thin.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

"Guys I understand you're angry but we shouldn't be fighting with our friends like that, Pyrrha when you're up to it you're going to have to apologize to Weiss." Jaune said as his friends trudged behind him, guilt at their reaction was in the air. They knew it wasn't right to get angry but the events of the last twenty four hours had started to catch up with them.

"Jaune, I appreciate you keeping your head cool for us but it still wasn't right of Weiss to talk about your family and by extension you like that." Pyrrha spoke up first, Nora nodded with her in agreement Jaune didn't turn to look at her but he chuckled slightly.

"Thank you Pyrrha for looking out for me like that but I don't want you to see you get hurt defending me." Pyrrha could feel warmth spread from her chest to her face and smiled, leave it to him to always look out for the wellbeing of others more than himself.

"Jaune I'm going to have to agree with Pyrrha on this one, it wasn't right for Weiss to say those things." Ren said once again, he had cooled off to his normal stoic self.

"Which I'll agree with you on but the sort of reaction that happened back there was equally just has bad, emotions were running high and Weiss may be abrasive but I'm sure she didn't really mean it." Pyrrha frowned and looked back at Ren who nodded to her.

"I get that you're looking out for us Jaune and no one wants to see our friendship with team RWBY be torn apart which hopefully it doesn't come down too but I don't think we were really out of line for responding like that." Jaune glanced back and Pyrrha could see a playful smile in his eyes as he feigned a stern expression.

"So punching people that are speaking their minds is a good thing now?" Nora and Ren laughed in the back as Pyrrha's cheeks turned red. She swatted Jaune's arm, he cried out in surrender feigning pain and quickly got down on his knees in the middle of the sidewalk and bowed before Pyrrha asking for her forgiveness. This just brought out another wave of laughter amongst the teens; a few people looked at them with disgust at how obnoxious they were being but most turned an eye when they saw how bloody they were no doubt thinking that they needed to blow off steam from the fighting.

"Jaune?" A young woman's voice came from behind him and he looked up first to see his friends staring with gaping mouths in surprise at whatever it was they were looking at, he turned around.

"Jaune, is that really you?" A blond girl roughly six feet, with short cut hair that covered her left eye stood before him.

She wore dark red leather armor that layered over each other on her torso with leather pauldron that extend half way down her upper arm. She also had leather wrapped around her forearm and extended over her hands with silver metal plates stitched on top, and wore black fingerless gloves. Draped over her torso was two bandoliers with seven thin throwing knives in each one, another bandolier was around her waist but that had various sized pouches on it. They could also see a black string less bow, there was also slightly curved black leather bound handle with a white pommel, and the golden Arc symbol was carved in it.

"Uh… Hi Katherine"

* * *

 **1 Hour Later…**

"So let me get this straight you snuck away from Avalon, which we now left and are living once again in the Capital and you stole Crocea Mors and some cheap plates from dad's shop, then you somehow managed to get your hands on some papers, probably from some illegal club, got on the Bullhead to Beacon, which you hate cause you had air sickness, bluffed your way through Initiation where people die all the time even when I was here, got partnered up with the Invincible Girl who unlocked your aura, and on a side note congrats on getting a girl like her to like you, then you fought a criminal because your friends were having a tiff, got chewed out by Aunt Lilly, she tells you about the Immaterium, dad shows up with a company of soldiers, you go out to a Outlander town get caught in a siege by Daemons and now we're here?" Katherine said as she sat in a chair of team JNPR's dorm massaging her temples to ward off a massive headache.

"Yup" Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head softly, Nora and Ren were in their respective beds after having already taken showers and eaten some food they had picked up from the cafeteria, Pyrrha was in the shower currently and Jaune waited to go last opting to catch his oldest sister up on his life for the last few months.

"Seriously Jaune, does mom know you're here? How about the others have you at least kept in contact with them?" Katherine said as she took a drink from a cup of water, Jaune chuckled nervously as he continued to scratch the back of his head.

"You can be incredibly stupid sometimes you know that?" She snapped at him causing him to shut his mouth, and bow his head slightly.

"Look I know I should get in contact with mom and the others but I just don't know what to say."

"Jeez Jaune just talk to them like normal, let them know you're fine and that you're not in the extreme danger like mom no doubt thinks." Katherine said as the bathroom door opened, Pyrrha stepped out in a pair of black short shorts with a loose red shirt on that extend to mid-thigh making it look like she was just wear a shirt.

"Though you probably should hold off on that." Katherine said as both her and Jaune stand slightly confused on why they were both looking at her.

"Gah fine Katherine I'll call them when I have a chance, is that all?" Jaune said as he stood up with some spare clothes in hand and he headed towards the bathroom to get cleaned up. Katherine rested her chin on her hands as she watched Pyrrha dry her hair, and thought about the day's events, and smiled to herself thinking how grown up Jaune has become. She reached out for the glass of water and finished it before gently setting it down on the table, she stood up, Pyrrha turned and smiled.

"Is there something you need Ms. Arc?"

"Please call me Katherine Pyrrha; I'm not even that old." Katherine chuckled slightly as she started to gather her belongings.

"Well Katherine, is there something you need?" Pyrrha asked again a warm smile on her face, it was nice meeting Jaune's family they were nice people. She liked that they treated her as a normal girl who happened to be studying with their son to become a Hunter. No doubt they didn't want to be burden with their own reputation in meeting people so why would do they the same to others.

"Tell me Pyrrha, how much do you know about us?" Katherine asked suddenly, Pyrrha was thrown off a bit unsure of what she meant.

"I know that you're good people who are known for their fierceness in warfare, and your own very Kingdom while not recognized like the others it's equal in terms of strength to match any of them in open war, but despite this you do what you can to help and protect people from injustice and Grimm?" Katherine smiled but there was something about it that didn't show if she was pleased or not with the answer.

"What do you know of the other things that my family fights?" She asked her face shifting back to a more neutral expression, her eyes were unreadable and her posture showed no signs of any overt emotions. Pyrrha couldn't help but gulp a little.

"Yes, I know about…them…we fought the creations of one of the Four in Leflore." Pyrrha said, flashes of people dying going through her mind once more, she could help but feel a small shiver travel down her spine.

"It's without a doubt that you have been changed by the things you've seen, training and school could never get the experience of seeing creatures that come from an unimaginable nightmare spring out, slaughtering everything in its path until you're able to put it down. Remember this Pyrrha it doesn't get any better from here on out, what you've seen cannot be forgotten, so you have two choices, crumble under the weight of the things you've seen and are going to see or learn from them becoming a true warrior of the battlefield." Katherine said, her eyes staring off into the distance no longer registering what was in front of her, going back to her own experiences.

Katherine shook her head softly and looked back at Pyrrha, flashing Pyrrha a smile, waving as she turned around walking towards the door before she stopped at the door.

"One last thing Pyrrha, I can see that my brother is head over heels for you so please look after him, he's got the tendency to do stupid things when it comes to those closest to him." She said before stepping out closing the door behind her, though had she turned around she would have seen Pyrrha's face turn bright red.

* * *

 **Several Hours Later…**

Jaune rolled over in annoyance, his scroll had been vibrating for a good five minutes on the nightstand next to his bed, and he reached out and picked it up. He looked at the light indicator on the top; it was flashing blue which meant he had a message or missed call. He opened the scroll up and saw his notifications; there were four missed calls and eighty seven new messages.

"What the?" He sat up as he registered the number of messages, and opened it up, he didn't recognize the number that had called him but the first message he was actually from Saul. The man apparently had taken the time to get out use his own scroll, the man had trouble often with it due to his size, the message told him that the battle of Leflore was drawing to its climax and that he should return sometime soon. Jaune was elated to hear that he had survived the battle for Leflore, which no doubt would have made the earlier siege looked like a small skirmish.

The next message was from his dad, he simple said that Jaune should be ready, whatever that meant.

He soon realized what he meant upon reading the third message, apparently it was his mom, and she alternated from calling him an idiot and worrying about him. It continued on for numerous messages with a few actually being from his sisters who also were calling him and idiot for waiting so long to talk or get in contact with them. He couldn't help but smile as he realized how much he missed his sisters, but as he neared the end of messages his mom ended it by saying that she was coming to see him.

"Shit."

* * *

 **A Few Days Later…**

"Jauney Boy!"

"What's up Cardin?" Jaune said as he turned around and was greeted by the sight of Cardin with a determined face, they had just finished Oobleck's class, and Pyrrha stood nearby ready to deck Cardin if he had somehow reverted back to his old ways.

"Hey Jaune have you heard anything strange lately?"

"No, why?" Cardin scratched his cheek at that slightly.

"Well the thing is I've been hearing a lot of talk going around about how the Arc's let Vale hang out to dry during The Breach." People had started to call the incident in Vale, The Breach, news outlets around the Kingdom had been running stories and speculating on why it had happened and what it could mean for the Vytal Festival. Some of the more extreme outlets had started questioning Ozpin's ability to be Headmaster of Beacon or what his own family was up to in Vale during the incident.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, people are saying that you and your old man purposely let Vale get attacked without helping and that the Arcs aren't the fierce and professional soldiers like they were during the Great War and the Faunus Right Revolution but are now cowards." This got Jaune to blink in surprise; he hadn't expected people to start accusing his people of being cowards for not being there to help during The Breach.

"Huh, well that's a thing, thanks for the heads up Cardin." Jaune said as he gave a slight wave and turned to catch up with Pyrrha, Cardin went his own way.

"So what was that about?" Pyrrha asked as they walked towards the cafeteria for lunch, Jaune didn't answer at first; he was noticing that a few people were whispering to each other as they walked through the halls.

"Jaune?"

"Hm?"

"You seem distracted, is something wrong? Is Cardin doing something?" Pyrrha's face went from concern to a more menacing dark look at the last part but Jaune shook his head.

"No it's not Cardin's fault, he was just letting me know about some discontent that people have had lately with my family and the lack of response during The Breach." Pyrrha nodded slightly in understanding, she was glad that Cardin was no longer being a bully or a racist, it goes to show that even the most hateful of individuals can change for the better if approached right.

However she also noticed that a group of girls from Mistral were looking at Jaune with disgust plain on their faces, she narrowed her eyes and watched them till they noticed whose attention they brought on themselves, which they promptly turned around.

No one else paid much attention to them until they got to the cafeteria. When Jaune opened the doors and walked in the volume in the cafeteria dropped noticeably, as students from Mistral, and Atlas glared at Jaune, even a few Beacon students joined in. Jaune cupped his chin as he stood there watching them.

"Did I forget to zip my pants up again?" Jaune staged whispered as he looked down to check himself, Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh a little at how well Jaune was taking all the looks. Soon enough they got into line for their food, Pyrrha had seared salmon on a brown rice risotto with mixed vegetables on the side, and a glass of water. Jaune had a thick burger with extra bacon and fries with a glass of grape soda to go with it.

Ren and Nora were already in their usual spot, along with Yang, Blake and Ruby except Weiss. Who seemed to be still upset about what had happened a few days ago though Jaune was able to get Pyrrha to apologize. It seemed the white hair heiress was still going through a few things of her own and wasn't at the table with them.

"Hey Jaune." Ruby called out when Jaune and Pyrrha got close, Jaune smiled back cheerfully.

"Sup Ruby, how's your morning been?" Ruby blushed a little at the friendly response.

"It's good…" She said a little lower because Pyrrha started to stare intensely at her as they sat across the table from her.

"Yea yea whatever, so Jaune what did Cardin want with your earlier?" Yang asked as she proverbially shoved her way into the picture, this drew everyone else's attention save for Nora and Ren who was listening to her talk about her dream that involved a spoon, syrup, and a sand castle.

"Oh Cardin? He just wanted to give me a heads-up about some people spreading rumors about me and my family with The Breach, and what not." Jaune waved his hand lazily in front of his face as if to ward off whatever they might say.

"Jaune that sounds pretty serious, none of the soldiers or your aunt have come back since your dad sent them out, the only ones left here are you, your dad, and Brin." Ruby said as she took another bite of a cookie after soaking it in milk.

"Oh I didn't know Brin was still here." Jaune said with genuine surprise, as he looked at everyone else he noticed that all they seemed to be staring at something behind him.

"Guys?" He asked as he noticed that the cafeteria had also quieted down, he turned around and looked at what everyone else was looking at.

Pyrrha watched as four women entered the cafeteria, she immediately saw Katherine who waved at her; next to her was another girl. She was the same height but had shoulder length hair though her face was a more rounded version; she also wore a simple grey shirt with black jeans with a white apron on top and black sneakers. The biggest difference between her and Katherine was how mad she looked but otherwise they looked the same.

Next to her was a smaller girl, the first thing Pyrrha noticed was that she was a Fox Faunus, she was a little more than five feet with snow pale skin and black hair, her fox ear were grey with black tips, her tail was completely mixed giving it a salt and pepper look. She wore a simple hoodie that looked two times too big for her with a white skirt that went down to her ankles and a pair of pink and blue sneakers.

She stood behind the lead woman who was slowly scanning the cafeteria with her light blue eyes. She looked to be slightly smaller than six foot three inches, and had platinum blonde hair that rested slightly above her shoulders. She wore a white blouse with a black skirt and a brown belt went around her waist, the Arc symbol could be seen on the front, with black high heels which she was tapping the front of one foot impatiently.

"Pssst Jaune, who are they?" Yang whispered from across the table, though despite being almost across the entire cafeteria with hundreds of students and staff the lead woman snapped her head in their direction Jaune and surprisingly enough Pyrrha both felt the cold sensation of death on them.

"Oh shit." Jaune gulped as he realized who it was, he jumped up from his seat pushing the table forward a little to the protests of his friends, Pyrrha called out to him asking what was wrong.

"Talklaterbye!" Jaune said as he turned around and started to walk briskly towards the nearest door. As he opened the door he looked back to see all four staring at him, though one in particular was walking incredibly fast in high heels towards him, Jaune ran.

"What's up with him?" Yang asked as they watched Jaune all but flee in terror out the nearest door, Pyrrha turned to see Katherine standing with the small girl and another woman.

"How ya doing Pyrrha?" She asked sweetly as she took a seat with them.

"I'm fine Katherine, it's nice seeing you again, and who might you two be?" Pyrrha asked as she took at the other girls, the girl in the apron extended her hand which Pyrrha graciously took.

"Mina." She said simple as she nodded her head a little, the younger girl stood behind her however apparently shy most likely due to all the people staring at them. Pyrrha watched her with a careful eye, she peaked her head around and Pyrrha saw that she had red eyes whereas Mina and Katherine had blue.

"Hi there little one, my name is Pyrrha, I'm Jaune's partner." The mention of Jaune's name seemed to bring a new light into her red eyes; she smiled brightly which brought a chorus of awe's from the assembled girls.

"She's just so adorable!" Yang squealed as they crowded around her, she had yet to say anything opting to instead smile and nod whenever they asked if she wanted something. Pyrrha looked up at Mina who continued to stand there, though even she was smiling at the young girl.

"So Mina was it? If you don't mind me asking what is it that brought you here to see Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, Mina looked at her and shrugged.

"Well if Jaune wasn't a freaking idiot we wouldn't have to be here…well mom would have come anyways but at least I wouldn't have to close shop just to come here." She said as tapped a finger on her lip in thought.

"Wait what did Jaune do?" Ruby chimed in after overhearing Pyrrha's question, Mina snorted.

"The idiot forgot how to use a scroll to contact us, we didn't know where he was or what his number was so we couldn't call or message him, and it's been more than six months since any of us heard from him."

"You can't blame him that much, he seemed like he was going to come apart at the seams when he saw me." A masculine voice appeared behind Mina, who stepped aside to reveal Alexander stand with his arms crossed, he was wearing a blue button up shirt with dark slacks, and glossy black dress shoes.

"Hi dad." Mina said as she stepped in for a hug, she looked utterly dwarfed when in his arms; Katherine and the youngest Arc sibling came in to join the hug, to Pyrrha it was a heartwarming sight to family that showed such love for each other.

"How was your flight?" He asked as he scooped up his Faunus child and held her up in his arms, she and Mina both shrugged, he chuckled shaking his head.

"So where's your mother?" Alexander asked as he looked around for any signs of his wife, both Yang and Nora started to laugh, even Mina smiled at that question.

"She's no doubt giving Jaune a piece of her mind." Katherine said as she sat down and took Jaune's plate of food, nibbling on a fry.

"That poor boy." Alexander said as he looked out the window.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Arabella Arc laughed as she and her son sat in his dorm, his tales of school life were enjoyable, she was glad that her baby boy was safe. Though she was still worried about his safety, especially after she read the reports that Victoria had sent her a status report of the battle for Leflore where Jaune was the night before fighting Plaguebearers. However it seems with his aura unlocked he was now something more akin to the likes of Alexander so while Jaune may be inexperienced, she knew he had the ability to take care of himself.

If she had to be honest, she wasn't entirely sure of the girl, Pyrrha Nikos, though if she had to voice her thoughts it would be that the little harlot wasn't good enough for her baby boy but it didn't matter. Whoever Jaune wants by his side is his choice. As a mother it was her duty to support him in his decisions good or bad, especially the bad ones. Though she had to wonder was this girl ready to be immersed into their life, a life of death and endless warfare?

"Mom?" She jerked slightly as she was brought back to the present; she looked at her beloved son, warmth and love radiated from his eyes as he watched her, she smiled.

"Yes Jaune?"

"You seemed distracted, anything you wanna talk about?" She laughed softly; it seems the roles have reversed.

"It's nothing to fret over dear, I was just thinking about how Mina and Nessa are going to react." Jaune smiled in return at this though.

"If I had to guess Mina is going to be mad and berate me for a little bit before telling me how worried I made her and the rest of you, Nessa will either swing in the extreme, getting mad before I do something she wants, or just be glad to see me again." Jaune said as he stretched his back, as if one cue a knock was heard on the door.

"Jaune, you in here?" His partner called out, sticking her head into the room.

"Yea Pyr, I'm just telling my mom what I've been up to for the last few months." He said gesturing to his mom who sat on Pyrrha's bed. Pyrrha opened up the door to reveal the rest of his team, Ruby and her team save for Weiss, and his sisters, with Nessa on his dad's shoulders, though he had to duck down to avoid bashing her head into the wall.

"Jaune!" The young girl on Alexander's shoulders called out, and scrambled to get off her father's shoulder's, Jaune stood up and stepped out in front of his bed, the young Faunus girl collided with his chest like a hammer.

"Sheesh Nessa, you've grown up so much since I last saw you." Jaune said an easy smile on his face as he kneeled down to get face to face with his beloved younger sister.

"Well if you didn't leave you would have seen me grow!" She said with a slightly pout, as she stepped back crossing her arms and looking away. Everyone around them laughed at the cute display of Nessa being mad at Jaune.

"True but I had to leave; though for what it's worth I missed you every day I was gone." Jaune said Nessa glanced at him from the corner of her eye the others could see her fox ears twitching slightly.

"I guess you'll have to make it up to me." She asked as she continued to look away, doing her best to keep the act up, Jaune looked at his mom they chuckled at each other.

"How can I make this up to you Nessa?" Jaune asked, and she twirled around a bright triumphant smile on her face.

"Treat me to food and some shopping and we'll be squared." Nessa declared placing her hands on her hips; everyone could see her tail wagging back and forth excitedly, Mina grinned at this.

"Ah sweet Jaune's paying for dinner and a shopping trip!" Yang called out, Jaune just scratched the back of his head, and things were going to get tiresome soon that much he could tell.

"Are you guys in here?" A new voice called out from the doorway, and everyone turned to see Weiss standing in her school uniform, the look of shocking at seeing more people that she didn't know could be seen on her face.

"Let me guess Jaune these are more family members?" She asked crossing her arms and shifting her weight to her back foot, Jaune cleared his throat.

"Yes, this is my mom, Arabella, my two oldest sisters who are twins Katherine and Mina, and my youngest sister Nessa." He said now formally introducing them; Weiss bowed her head to each one respectfully.

She curtsey to them before turning around and heading back to team RWBY's dorm room. Ruby exchanged glances with her other teammates at Weiss's peculiar behavior, however it was soon forgotten as the room devolved into chatter and laughter as Jaune's family started talking about all the ridiculous stories about Jaune's interaction with his sisters in his childhood.

It wasn't until an hour later that the room started to clear out. Team RWBY was the first to leave and head to their room across the hall. Katherine and Mina deciding to both giving their farewells and leave next, since both women had their respective careers to go back to, though Mina had the help of Alexander to carry Nessa back to wherever they were staying the night.

"Now Jaune before we leave, there's something else I want to tell you that had to be in person." Arabella said as she stood next to Alexander and brushed a lock of hair from his face and rest her hand on his cheek. To anyone else it would look like a loving moment between a mother and her son but Jaune knew that whatever she wanted to say was really important.

"As you may know things have gotten more dangerous out here in the Kingdoms, and with you getting caught up in the siege of Leflore, the family has decided to deploy a Sentinel to oversee your safety here at Beacon." Jaune jerked his head back in surprise, feeling both hurt and insulted that they didn't think he could protect himself.

"Whoa wait a minute, I don't need someone to watch over me like that, I'm perfectly safe here at Beacon, besides dad's here and he's got a bunch of soldiers here also." Arabella grabbed Jaune's hands to stop him from continuing, they felt cool and smooth on his skin, a rather pleasant feeling.

"Jaune you must listen to me, your father can't be there for you and neither can those soldiers, they have their own duty to attend to and I know that you can fight but I've already talked to Ozpin and he's granted my request, and just so you know this is the collective wish of the family to see you protected, and for what it's worth your father will also be getting one while he's out here." Jaune sighed; there really was no use in trying to argue against her especially if she already has Ozpin's permission.

"Fine." Jaune sighed as he lay back down on his bed, his mother grimaced slightly at seeing her son upset but this was the way it had to be. She stood up and made to leave the room but turned around just in time to see Jaune come up and give her a hug.

"I know you mean well mom, I don't want to sound like an ungrateful son, I'm sorry." Jaune said as they embraced, she smiled and patted his back.

"I know Jaune; now get some sleep you owe your sister a day in Vale tomorrow." She said as they broke apart, Jaune just laughed slightly and soon enough she left. He turned around to see his team had already gotten ready for bed; Jaune shrugged as he picked a change of clothes and went into the bathroom to change and finally went to bed.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Qrow sat once more in Ozpin's office, Ozpin himself stood looking out the window of his office to the academy grounds below.

"I can't believe those assholes just sidelined you and gave Ironwood authority over the Vytal Festival." Qrow said as he watched Ozpin stand as motionless as a statue.

"You surely can't be surprised by this Qrow; Ironwood takes his political dealings with the Kingdoms as serious as he does with his Military and Academy duties." Alexander said from the side, he was looking at his scroll, Qrow could see his eyes rapidly moving left and right as he read whatever he had on his scroll.

"I understand how you two may feel about this but Ironwood ultimately does what he believes to be the right thing, all we can do now is have faith and support him where needed." Ozpin said from where he stood, though he still didn't turn around. There was a soft ding and Arabella Arc stepped out from the elevator, and went over to where her husband stood, he handed her his scroll to look at.

"Be that as it may Ozpin, I've petitioned the Vale council to give us a wider range of operational autonomy, however it seems now with Ironwood in charge that they no longer see any reason for our increase of manpower." Alexander said as he poured himself a small glass of amber colored alcohol from a decanter that was tucked away in a book shelf.

"Thankfully I was able to arrive here with Preceptor Olivia so we do have a thousand of my Sisters, though I cannot bring them into the City unless it's an emergency such as The Breach, so for now I've ordered them to set up camp in Forever Fall Forest." Arabella spoke up as she started reading whatever Alexander gave her.

"So we're got Ironwood's tin cans protecting us while the Arcs are ham-stringed because Ironwood didn't want to play ball with them for the attack on Mountain Glenn, typical idiot." Qrow snorted in disgust.

"That's enough Qrow." Ozpin said as he turned around giving him a hard look, Qrow sunk in his seat a little.

"So Alexander I need you to explain to me what this is?" Ozpin said as he tapped a digital key on his desk that popped up a video feed that seemed had captured both the initial siege and extermination of the town.

The source of the video seemed to be taken from a Bullhead, they watched as Leflore was shadow of itself, the camera zoomed back to just in time as the town was engulfed in a series of explosions that tore apart buildings, streets and whoever maybe in inside. The view shifted up to see six massive aircrafts that had dropped the ordnance onto the town utterly shattering it.

Whoever was controlling the camera stopped it there, only to resume as it hovered over massive formations of the Arcadian troops marching towards Leflore, tanks and armored personnel carriers sped across the grasslands, flashes of artillery batteries in the back towards what looked to be the staging area of this assault. Behind the rolling armored formations were thousands of infantrymen spread out advancing at a decent rate to keep close to their advancing armor.

"What happened in Leflore Alexander and why was this response necessary I understand that it was attacked but this isn't a relief force this is an army for destruction." Ozpin said, his tone leaving no room for excuses.

"How did you get this footage?" Alexander asked instead as he looked back at Arabella who nodded.

"We received this from one of the many media outlets in Vale but they weren't able to figure out who sent it to them in the first place, no doubt more were sent to the others stations who are most likely going to air this the moment they can, so I need an answer from you to give to the public for the many questions and accusation that they no doubt will have." Alexander sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he looked at Qrow.

"Mr. Branwen you're one of the first outsiders to live and gain experience dealing with them with both the Gellar and Mountain Glenn offensive, what's your assessment of Daemons?" Qrow leaned his head back and grunted softly before speaking.

"They're different that's for sure, Grimm are bad enough as it is with the seemingly endless numbers that have with the occasional Elder amongst them and for what's it worth if a sizable Grimm horde attacking the groups of Daemons I've encountered would come on top but with that said I've only seen a few of these Daemons, not even a hundred, but their ability to kill and fight efficiently is astounding to the point I bet even trained Huntsman and Huntresses would have a very difficult time to beat them, I know I did, so overall from what I've seen and from what I've dealt with it, I think if the Daemons are left unchecked we're all going to be dead soon." Qrow finished but once more taking out his flask and unscrewing the lip, Alexander nodded at what he said before taking out a small rectangle device and leaving it on Ozpin's desk.

"I suggest you look at that, you'll see why our actions in Leflore were the right things to do." Alexander said simply as he turned around and walked towards the elevator, with Arabella behind him. Ozpin wordlessly took up the device and plugged it into a console on his desk, in a flash a screen appeared in the air above it. It was another video footage of what seemed to be a little after the first video they had seen.

What was clearly different about this one was the fact it seemed to be taken from a helmet cam of a soldier by the name of Corporal Alexander Sherrad the time spot on the top right corner indicating it was a little before noon.

The man was looking back and forth between ruined and charred buildings, the bombings from the aircraft and artillery was effective in leaving nothing unscathed. The roads were uneven and cracked; the blackened remains of vehicles littered the street though a few were smashed against the sides of buildings.

The sound of gunfire was an ever present background, echoing in the distance, voices yelling or screaming in pain loud enough that it could be heard blocks away. The sergeant was walking with dozens of his fellow soldiers and one of those one those tanks they had seen in the vanguard of their initial push into the town. He looked up and saw several Bullheads hovering overhead firing rockets at some unknown targets, the resulting explosions were close enough to shake the camera a little.

They were watching as he lifted his rifle when someone shouted a warning, just in time as two repulsive daemons exploded out from a charred doorway in front of him, the two creatures immediately charged into a squad of soldiers. The first creature had an axe which slammed into the head of the first soldier it met; the axe shattered the helmet and cleaved all the way down his sternum.

The man shouted something, it was mostly incoherent due to the helmet muffling his voice and the sound of a dozen rifles made it difficult for Qrow or Ozpin to decipher it.

It kicked the corpse off its axe and immediately swung it again at the closet soldier who was backing away firing at it. The creature despite looking like a rotten decayed corpse lunged forward swinging its axe horizontally and cleaved the man's right arm off. However the blade continued from there and went through his chest and out the other side, the man from the shoulder up fell away from the rest of his body.

The ensuing gunfire from the other squads ripped into it, chunks of rotten meat and bone fragments fell away. The creature tried to move for its next victim but the torrent of bullets tore one leg off and it stumbled to the ground struggling to move.

The second one however had just finished running its sword through the chest of another soldier before the platoon's attention turned to it however this one was a lot quicker. It immediately started to move with surprising speed swinging its blade without a care, giving anything from shallow cuts to dismemberments to anyone that got close to it. Within minutes it had killed another six soldiers before the tank traversed its turret and hosed it with heavy stubber fire, killing it.

The video did another time skip; the time-stamp indicated it was about ten minutes after the first one in the afternoon. This time the man seemed to be experiencing something from a nightmare of a different magnitude. Ozpin could see as the man looked to his left and right, hundreds of soldiers advancing what looked to be a park area with tanks following closely behind. However the trees and terrain were in shambles from the bombardments, ash and embers drifting through the air. The buildings and houses in the distance of Leflore were still on fire billowing dark smoke that clouded the skies above, adding to the image that Leflore was truly a dead place.

These soldiers however had more pressing concerns; the company wasn't alone as they advanced, ahead of them a massive horde of daemons was rushing towards them. There was a soft crackle of noise that seemed to come from the helmet and soon enough hundreds of soldiers opened fire, the sound of hundreds of rifles firing was incredibly, they could see the front ranks of the daemons practically dissolve under the weight of fire.

Though what Ozpin and Qrow couldn't see was that the Arcadian forces weren't done, accompanying the infantry companies were fourteen Predator tanks, upon taking position on higher ground behind the advancing infantry they added their own firepower to the mix.

A series of thunderous claps of sounds could be heard from behind the camera and multiple explosions erupted amongst the daemon ranks. The camera panned up and a trio of aircraft that neither Ozpin nor Qrow had seen before, swept low from the east towards the daemons.

They were long black planes with low canopy's and a tail that extend back with a horizontal stabilizer with a vertical stabilizer on either side of it. The wings were angled down extending diagonally away from under the pilot canopy that ended in two massive engines before the wing tilted up again.

As the craft got close each released six rockets from slots that were placed under the joints of the wings where they connected with the main fuselage, at the nose of the craft gouts of fire could be seen as the pilots opened fire, a long line of tracers stitched a path through the horde, each round ripping daemons apart. The rockets struck around the same time a series of explosions obliterating the daemon horde, even still there was much more. The gap between the soldiers and daemons was slowly eroding, the footage stopped in the middle of the man firing his rifle and skipped again.

At first it showed nothing though they could see that it was ten minutes after the initial scene, it was just a black screen, but gunfire and screaming could be heard, though there was something else in the background, a thick gurgling laughter. The helmet they were watching must have been face down on the ground because the blackness disappeared and instead showed a puddle of blood that they came up from.

Qrow narrowed his eyes at the next sight, the man was fumbling to find his rifle to no avail, and instead he pulled out his sidearm, it was smaller than the pistol that Muril. It had a black slide on top with a green frame, in front of the trigger guard seemed to be a flashlight attachment.

He snapped his head up just in time to see a relatively wounded daemon look him in the eyes; he raised his pistol and quickly snapped off three shots, each round found its mark into the creature's single eye. He didn't stop there, standing up he walked a few steps forward steadily emptying his magazine into its chest.

After emptying his magazine the pistol slide locked, the man expertly ejected the magazine and slipped a new one in, and quickly emptied it again it the creature's chest. Despite that it still stood standing, the man instead opted to put a new magazine into his gun and turned around to run.

Qrow and Ozpin could see that the man was far away from his living comrades, more daemons were around him, bullets smacked into their grotesque bodies, at their feet the mutilated bodies of his fellow soldiers lay in pieces. The crack and whines of bullets nearly hitting him was nerve wracking, heavy breathing could be heard, as he ran staying as far away as he could from the reach and notice of the other daemons while trying not to die at the hands of his comrades.

After a few heart stopping moments of nearly getting cut down by a Plaguebearer the man fell to his knees a dozen feet from friendly lines, a trio of soldiers came running out, firing above his head at whatever was behind him.

As he was dragged to safety, dozens of fully armed warriors of the Sisterhood appeared. Leading them was an older woman, she wore no helmet, had shoulder length grey hair fluttered in the wind, half of her face was marred by what looked to be a burn wound. Next to her stood a purple and gold giant with a red helmet that easily dwarfed her, in one hand he held a bolter, in his other had a flag pole with a red banner, they could see the golden crests of the Arc Family on it.

The man looked to see what they were staring at and there stood something that even though he was watching a video made Qrow want to vomit. Ozpin looked a little surprised himself, in the distance stood a towering creature, similar to that of the Plaguebearers.

It was nearly eighteen meters tall and twelve meters wide, horns stuck out from a mass of decayed flesh where its eyes were supposed to be. The only indication that it was a head at all was the fact its mouth was open to reveal rows of rotten yellow and black teeth, a long slithering tongue that looked rotten licked around its head.

Its body was mix of grey and green, the bloated stomach revealed several spots along it where the decaying flesh had given out to a mass of foul looking guts that flopped against its body. Yellow puss oozed out from sores and blisters that lined its mouth and arms in patches. In its hand was a long rusted cleaver easily four meters long and two meters wide. The last thing they saw was man watching as the Sisterhood line up, checking their armor and weapons as the massive creature stepped closer to them, hundreds of more Plaguebearers milling around it before the video ended. Qrow and Ozpin sat there for a few moments, trying to comprehend what they just saw.

"Well that was something." Qrow spoke first, breaking the silence of the two men.

"Indeed it was." Ozpin said as he poured another cup of coffee.

"So even though they bombed the shit out of that place, there was still a bunch of daemons there to kick their asses despite having a huge amount of men and armor, plus that big thing at the end that the Sisterhood were facing down." Qrow said aloud as he leaned back in the chair.

"Indeed, I suppose after seeing that it's reasonable to assume their initial action if anything was underwhelming." Ozpin said as he sipped slowly from his cup, Qrow snorted.

"So what now? We've seen both videos, one from an unidentified source, not doubt trying to frame the Arc's as a group violent aggressors and this video taken from the troops on the ground dying to stop a nightmarish threat because this is just getting ridiculous now, the Grimm were bad enough but now daemons are running rampart slaughtering everything in their path." Ozpin nodded as he looked at more videos on the device, it seems it's going to be a long night for him.

"I suppose now we'll have to release a statement and selected footage for a public answer if or when this comes out to the general public."

"Do you really think that's wise?"

"In all honesty no, but something tells me we're not going to have a choice in the matter, all we can do now is do damage control, the Arcs are our best chance in fighting these creatures, if the public and the council turn against them we're just hurting ourselves."

"On the bright side at least the White Fang took a beating at Mountain Glenn and Torchwick is in a tiny cell on one of Ironwood's ships, so there's that."

"I would not be so sure Qrow."

"What?"

"Something tells me we're missing something, there are too many gaps in what we know, and I fear we're walking blind." Qrow ran a hand through his hair, he was tired, hungry, he wanted a drink, and Ozpin set his cup down.

"Go get some rest Qrow."

"Hm? What about you?"

"Well it seems that there are more videos here, I'm going to go through all of them and see what I can use." Qrow stared at Ozpin, he may be a calculating asshole sometimes but the man did his best for humanity, he was someone Qrow would follow to the end. He got up from the chair and went towards a pair of glass doors the led to a balcony; he waved a hand languidly as he leapt off the rails. Ozpin rubbed the bridge of his nose and signed, before playing the next video.

Qrow glided down to downtown Vale; everywhere he looked he could see Atlas Robots marching down the sidewalks in pairs. Something about that rubbed him the wrong way, but he ignored it, if the people of Vale needed lifeless robots to protect them and make them feel at ease what can he do about it.

He finally made it to a rather nondescript three story apartment building, there was nothing unique about it, he could see a few lights on but that was it. He finally landed on the rooftop and changed back to his human form, some may think it would be uncomfortable to change from back and forth which it was at first but at this point in his life it was like slipping on a new outfit.

He looked up into the starry night, there was something about the darkness of night that always settled his mind he wasn't sure why, shrugging he walked to the nearest door and opened it, and slowly trudged down the steps to the third floor. The soft echo of his shoes on the hardwood floor accompanied him until he made it down the hall to a dead end, a single door stood in front of him and he fished out his keys from his pants and unlocked the door.

Inside opened up to a small entryway, he set his keys down on a small table that was placed next to the door. From the entryway he could see his living room; a slightly worn brown leather couch was situated in front of a wall mounted television set. Between the wall and couch was a black table, nothing was on it except for a few empty beer bottles and the remote for the television set, a small light hung from the ceiling that illuminated the room in a soft yellow glow.

As Qrow stepped forward, his foot hit something, and he looked down to see a pair of black boots, he lined them up again and stepped further into his apartment. Past his entry way he looked to his left and saw in the corner, his kitchen, lining the wall was a black marble counter with a four burner stove top with a refrigerator next to the counter, across from the stove was a small island that had a sink and dish rack on it.

To his right he could see two doors, the one closest to him on his right was the bathroom the other one further away was his bedroom. The door to it was slightly ajar, and Qrow could see the edge of his bed, at the foot of it was a black duffel bag. Qrow shrugged and walked to his kitchen and opened the refrigerator and took out lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, and some thinly sliced meat he had picked up at a butcher shop that morning.

As he turned around he saw Muril standing next to him with a wide smile on her face.

"Hey big guy, would you mind if I used that after you?" She asked as if nothing strange was going on.

Qrow however couldn't think for a second because she was also standing there with only black laced panties on that were transparent enough to give a painfully teasing hint of what was underneath. Her creamy pale skin looked to have softness to it that Qrow imagined it would feel like silk, it was very alluring. And while her breasts weren't the largest he's ever seen they had a perkiness to it that was attractive nonetheless.

"Uh Qrow? You're starting to drool." Muril said as she continued to smile, before stepping forward to take some of the items out of his hands and setting them on the counter, then bending over slightly pulling out a cutting board and knife.

"Uh yea, well that's an uh…" Qrow said, normally when he finds a naked woman in his place, it's after waking up after a night of drinking and messy sex, with the morning often being him silently watching as she leaves without a word. Now he's got an attractive woman naked in his apartment, sober and with a smile on her face upon seeing him.

As he watched her hum softly as she made herself a three layer sandwich, with bread, meat, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo and whole grain Dijon mustard, he couldn't help be smile a little. He's grown accustomed to her in his life, something he hasn't for a very long time. The feeling of someone in your life that was a constant and brought joy was something he wasn't use to anymore at least not since her.

His eyes drifted down to the scabby red patch on her side however, the puncture wound that she had sustained during the train fight. Aside from Roman, who's now locked up, they were the only ones to have made it through that mess alive, the Sisters had either died upon impact or were torn apart by the rampaging Grimm that followed them.

Qrow mentally shook his head of the thought and went back to fixing himself a sandwich, soon enough he was sitting on the couch the empty plate of his sandwich on the table before him. Muril was sitting next on the opposite side of the couch.

"So what did the Ozpin want with you?" She asked, breaking the silence that surrounds the room.

"Hm? Oz? Oh he just wanted me there for the meeting with Alexander and Arabella; someone sent us footage of the Arcadian army bombing the shit out of Leflore."

"Why did someone take a video of that? There were daemons occupying the area, wouldn't a news crew focus on that instead?" Qrow reached out for a glass that had some hard liquor in it twirling it around the glass before taking a nice long sip.

"Ah! That's the stuff, anyways, that's because it wasn't from a media outlet, some third party took it and sent it to the media agencies, it just seems that one was feeling that it wasn't right not to give us a heads up so they sent their copy to us, Ozpin wanted to question the reasoning why that show of force was necessary, though Alexander gave us a bunch of footage of soldiers on the ground, and if anything it looks like you underestimated them." Muril nodded slowly.

"Yea that's what I heard also, Kermellon tried taking on an entire a Daemon horde with only two regiments and a understrength detachment of Heavy Armor, though I heard that the Sisterhood was the key to victory, Kermellon's after report stated that they gave the killing blow to the lead Daemon, though the Sisterhood was wiped out to the last, even the wounded didn't make it out due to the amount of diseases afflicting them, and Kermellon only made it out with barely half of his original strength."

"Fuck me, if Vale or any of the other Kingdoms gets hit like that we're gonna be screwed." Qrow whispered as he knocked back the rest of his drink, and closed his eyes.

Muril watched as Qrow closed his eyes, she wasn't sure if he was really asleep but she did feel a little annoyed, here she was almost completely naked, and yet he didn't even comment about it. Sure there was that little cute moment when he didn't know what to say but that was partly due to just the surprise of it. Muril wasn't vain or anything but she knew she was at least attractive enough for most men, but why won't Qrow notice her.

"Say, Sehra, why are you naked?" Qrow asked out of the blue, and she didn't respond because for a second she wondered if she was talking out loud.

"I mean the doc's told me not to wear anything that might agitate my wound."

"Yea but you're essentially naked, I'm pretty sure the doctors didn't mean walk around in laced panties." Sehra smiled coyly.

"Oh? You noticed that they were laced?" She scooted closer to him a little; Qrow opened his eyes and turned his head towards her, looking right into her eyes. For a second his eyes nearly took her breath away, they were twinkling with mirth but she could also see affection in them, whether it was for her or really for her that was the real question.

Though there was something else in them that always bothered her, whenever Qrow got in a retrospective mood his eyes would have a sense of pain in them. It was the kind of hurt or pain that was everlasting, the infernal question of why, it was something that people in their line of worked asked to themselves when something went terribly wrong. It was especially prevalent whenever he looked at her during those moods. If she had to hazard a guess, he's seeing someone else, someone he loved and lost.

"Why wouldn't I notice an attractive woman who's staying in my apartment who's purposely chose to wear black laced panties for me?" Sehra shook her head out of her contemplations and could feel her cheeks heat up as she registered what he said.

"H-How do you do it's for you? Maybe I just like walking around like that?" Qrow raised one eyebrow, Sehra looked away though she knew that she was blushing enough for him to see that he was right.

"You know getting involved with me isn't the best idea." He said softly, this stopped her, and she looked at him, excepting him to be indifferent to her but instead what she saw was pain.

She didn't say anything, Qrow sighed softly, internally he hated doing this but it was for the best, she would be safer, though it seemed fate had different ideas. He felt two smooth hands grip his face turning his head to the side, Sehra leaned in and kissed him. It was soft kiss, one that he could feel affection and care seep through into him, and they continued to kiss like that until both separated slightly, Sehra pressed her forehead against his.

"Please don't push me away Qrow, don't push the people who care about you away like that." Qrow wasn't sure what to do, part of him yearned for human contact and closeness of this nature once more but he didn't want to subject himself to the horrors that always befall them. She shifted around until she sat on his lap facing him, despite himself he couldn't help but wrap his hands around her waist; she leaned in and kissed him again.

"You know ever since I've met you Qrow, you were just so fascinating, we were on a rooftop getting attacked by daemons but you simply stood there staring at them as if you were still trying to figure out if you were some bizarre dream but despite that confusion you acted extraordinarily, it was so memorizing you fight and learn as you go against creatures that you've never even heard out yet still come on top, and as we spent more and more time together I've learned a few things about you, your taste in alcohol, your passion and loyalty to those that gain your respect, like your best friend and Ozpin, but not only that you care deeply for your two nieces even going as far as to teach one your own fighting style, but at the same time you're hurting on the inside, I can see it in your eyes, you don't have to tell me now but I want to be there for when you can." She whispered, Qrow sighed, and it was all so complicated that no matter what he was going to do something he'd regret, so he did the one thing that he could.

He leaned forward, kissing her, and he could tell that was she a little surprised that he did that but instead she leaned into it, he could feel both the desire and affection that poured from it. After a few moments she stood up once more, and slipped her panties off, tossing it to the side. Qrow once more took in the sight of Sehra standing fully naked in front of him, he could feel himself getting hard, and she smirked.

"Need a _hand_ , Qrow?" This time he just shook his head while he grinned before standing up. He picked her up and placed her face down on his shoulder, she even giggled like a little school girl when he slapped her ass before heading into the bedroom.

* * *

 **Oooooooh Shit Qrow's getting some action tonight. I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to go into more detail about that so for now I left it as it was, brownie points if anyone remembers the last time that line at the end was used.**

 **Anyways sorry about the wait, the next chapter will be out soon, I'll try to update my profile about the ETA of each chapter so be on the look out for that I suppose.**

 **Before I continue with this to who ever that wrote the "Grimm Dark" review, I don't even know what to say, just...why...**

 **Well I hope you enjoyed the chapter feel free to leave a review, comment or even a PM, I'm always glad to hear feedback good or bad.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It was roughly four in the afternoon and Jaune stood outside a clothing store in Vale; he was dressed in slightly worn jeans, with a black button up shirt open over a white shirt the golden Arc emblem visible on his left breast. There were several bags at his feet, Ren stood next to him in his usual outfit, though he looked half dead, Nora had been excited to go shopping with the girls and couldn't really sleep that much. If Nora couldn't sleep then Ren couldn't sleep either, the poor soul.

"Ren?"

"Yes Jaune?"

"What are you going to do if Nora buy's candy?" A flash of fear went through his magenta eyes and he stared at Jaune.

"Please don't suggest something like that could happen; besides I'll keep her from going into any candy store." Jaune could feel a drop of sweet go down the back of his neck.

"Uh…Ren, you know some clothing shops here have chocolate at the register for customers to buy." He watched as the dual wielder practically froze before immediately setting off at a brisk pace inside.

"Buuuuut Reeeeennnnn." A few moments had passed when Jaune head the loud whine akin to that of a child who got caught doing something they knew they weren't supposed to do but wanted too. Ren came out with holding chocolate in both arms with a pouting Nora behind him, Nessa, Pyrrha and team RWBY came behind them laughing.

Jaune couldn't help but focus on Pyrrha, while the others could go around with their regular outfits as civilian clothes; Pyrrha had a harder time due to the iconic and more combat orientation of her outfit. So for today she was wearing a pair of slightly faded blue jeans with a red cardigan over a black shirt. She did keep her signature green eye shadow along with her hair in its normal style and her bronze circlet.

His wallet cried out in anguish when he saw that all of them had one or two bags of their own including his sister. Nessa came running towards Jaune, a huge smile on her face as she held up her bags for him to see, her tail waving excitedly behind her.

"Jaune look at all these awesome clothes that Pyrrha helped me pick out!" Jaune smiled warmly, Pyrrha came up and handed his wallet back to him, he could have sworn that it felt lighter than before he looked down at Nessa.

"Did you have fun Nessa?" Jaune said a smile plastered across his face, she nodded, her tail still waving back and forth. He looked up and saw that everyone was chatting animatedly amongst themselves, except for Pyrrha who now looked distracted.

"Pyrrha?" He asked, she didn't say anything; he followed her gaze and saw that she was just staring into the crowd, though no one was paying particular attention to them. He waved his hand in front of her face before snapping his fingers, she jumped a little.

"Oh I'm sorry Jaune did you say something?"

"Pyrrha what's a matter, you looked distracted?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Really?"

"Yup, I'm fine." Pyrrha was anything but fine, she had caught a few women eyeing Jaune rather intently. What Jaune didn't pick up on was the fact he had peaked at being six foot six inches and had an extremely defined muscular body that showed very well with his shirt on. Not only was he physically fit but he had a very handsome face all of which was very enticing.

Though she couldn't really blame the other women for staring, it was difficult even for her to not pounce on Jaune whenever she tutored him in swordsmanship, and he works up a sweat. Or when Jaune comes out of the shower just wearing a thin white shirt that clings nicely to his body and loose shorts, she started to fantasize about what it would be like if she walked in on him showering. She shook her head furiously at that now wasn't the time for that.

Jaune was still standing there watching her, and she blushed as she realized that she just spaced out in front of him, Nessa appeared behind him.

"Hey big bro, whatcha doin? She asked, and he patted the top of her head and ruffled it a little, she pouted and pulled away, going about fixing her hair, Jaune crouched down.

"Nothing much little one, but I was going to ask if you're hungry?" She beamed a bright smile at that and nodded, Pyrrha could feel her heart warm up at the sight of how caring Jaune was for his little sister, despite not being biologically related.

Blake also saw this found it both heartwarming and hopeful, if a powerful family like the Arcs took care of and loved a Faunus child that wasn't theirs. Then that should surely help elevate the respect for other Faunus out in the Kingdoms.

Soon enough Jaune led them to a small cafe that served both humans and Faunus. As they opened the front door they were looked around, it was a homely sight, while not as fancy as some big name restaurants or café's but it had a pleasant atmosphere.

A slightly older woman who was around five foot nine with some grey hair streaks in her brown hair, stood behind a wooden bar smiled at the sight of Jaune. It was the kind of smile that seemed so natural it would be weirder to not see her smile.

"Jaune my boy! How good to see you dear! My how you've grown even more since I last saw you boy, what are you eating in Beacon? Oh are these the friends that you told me about?" She said with a warm smile and came around the counter hugging Jaune who easily returned it.

"Yea, these are my friends and teammates I was telling you about Mavis." Jaune said laughing softly, he gestured to Nessa.

"And this is my youngest sister Nessa, she wanted to spend the day together so I figured it be best to show her the best food out there." Mavis laughed and slapped his arm before leaning over and smiling at Nessa.

"Hi there little lady, you're ten times more adorable then Jaune described you." She said and Nessa blushed heavily at that, which brought another wave of laughter from everyone there.

"Alright dears, why don't you get some tables together and I'll go tell Russell to cook up some food for ya'll."

"Jaune how did you find this place?" Blake asked as they took their seats, Ruby was on her right and Yang her left. Jaune looked up, he was seated between Nessa and Pyrrha, and he smiled slightly.

"Oh I found this place while ago, I was out shopping for new clothes and stumbled upon this place when I was hungry, Mavis who owned the place welcomed me in and after a few hours and some delicious steak sandwiches I knew this would be one of my favorite places to go for food." Blake nodded at this, a brief thought of showing Sun this place passed through her mind but Mavis returned with a heaping cart of food.

The first thing she set out was several pitchers of water, grape soda and iced tea, followed by three sliced loafs of garlic bread, along with a tray of barbecue chicken sliders with mozzarella cheese and a plate with a dozen wooden sticks that held smoked sausages wrapped in bacon. The last thing she set down was a plate of a smoked salmon dip with an assortment of crackers and sourdough bread lining it, Blake immediately gravitated towards it.

The teens chatted animatedly until the food was almost all gone, with the help of aura they burned off calories like crazy and with even crazier semblances like exploding in a fiery rage or super speed it burned off even more, it's was one of the many perks of having aura. After while Mavis returned again with two trays of chicken casserole, a slightly thick man that was roughly six foot two inches came carrying three racks of ribs. Soon enough the table was filled once more with ribs, casseroles, pasta, salads, and chicken, which they tore into.

"Oh man, Jaune this is the best food ever." Yang said as she slumped back in her chair, she had eaten a full rack of ribs and two plates of chicken casserole. Nessa was the first to be done, her plate of Alfredo and steak pasta left half way done in front of her. Even Pyrrha felt full after trying a plate or three of grilled and barbeque chicken. Nessa tugged on Jaune's sleeve as he slowly sipped a glass of iced tea, and whispered into his ear, Pyrrha couldn't hear what they said.

"We'll be right back." Jaune said as he and Nessa got up, before heading down a hallway, as soon as he was out of ear shot Yang leaned across the table, though careful not to get her hair dirty.

"So Pyrrha how are things between you and Jaune?" Pyrrha blinked, not expecting the question at all, Ruby off on the other side of the table set her fork down as she heard Yang ask that.

"What do you mean?" Yang rolled her eyes.

"Jeez Cereal girl, aren't you and Jaune together now?" Pyrrha could feel her cheeks heat up a little at that.

"I suppose, we've both expressed our affections for each other." Yang grinned wolfishly.

"So what have ya'll done so far? I bet you've had more than a few fun times with that scrumptious body, eh?" Pyrrha lowered her gaze a little.

"We…We haven't really done anything to be honest." This time everyone at the table looked at her with that bit of news, except for Ruby and Ren, though one did it out of indifference, the other trying to hide the joy at that the relationship hasn't gone anywhere.

"Have you at least kissed?" Nora asked, as she scooted her chair closer, Pyrrha shook her head sadly, though she did remember the kiss he gave her on the cheek though she wouldn't have minded some more.

"Nope not really, we haven't even been on a first date." Pyrrha said a little dejectedly, though Ruby smiled at the sight of the Champion looking sad. What she didn't know was that Ren was watching her; he found it disconcerting that she seemed to enjoy Pyrrha getting frustrated at the lack of progress in her relationship with Jaune.

"What's up guys?" Jaune called out as he and Nessa returned from wherever they had gone off to.

"Oh nothing, Jaune we're just talking about if we wanted dessert or should head back to Beacon, it's getting late." Weiss was the one who surprisingly spoke up first, allowing Pyrrha time to collect herself from her depressed state of romantic progress. It was also the first real thing she had said that day, even while shopping she had mostly wondered off on her own, Pyrrha felt horrible at the thought that Weiss was still upset at her and Jaune for what happened when they came back.

"Oh well if it's getting late I can pack up your desserts for you." Mavis said as she joined them once more.

"That would be appreciated Mavis." Pyrrha said, Weiss pulled out a Schnee Dust Company card.

"So how much is the bill? I would figure it's has got to be in the three digits with this much delicious food." Mavis held up her hands as if to ward off the card like an evil spirit.

"No I can't do that dears, Jaune's been good to me as it is." Mavis said, this brought a few raised eyebrows at Jaune who just laughed and scratched the back of his head, wrapping an arm around her shoulders bring her into a one arm hug, which she graciously returned.

"Ah Mavis please, at least let me pay for Nessa, Pyrrha's and my portions I would feel bad if you didn't let me do that." Mavis smiled and nodded before bringing a bill for fifty odd Liens, barely even a tenth of the actual amount that they would have to pay. Jaune scribbled on the bill and placed his own card which his father had given to him the day after he had first arrived, handing it over to Mavis, her jaw dropped when she saw the tip.

"Jaune!? Bless you son, you've got a heart of an angel." Mavis said hugging Jaune and planting a kiss on his cheek, he laughed rubbing the back of his head. Everyone else just looked between each other except for Nessa who just stood smiling as if she knew what he just did.

Mavis gave them a cheesecake and two chocolate cakes along with the rest of leftover food as they left, once outside everyone realized that it was already dark so they proceeded to walk towards the airships to head back to Beacon. Pyrrha dropped back to walk with Jaune, Nessa was on his back, her thin arms wrapped around his neck, her tail lazily waving back and forth content from all the food.

"So Jaune, what did you do to make Mavis so happy like that?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune grinned.

"Well technically speaking the bill would have been roughly five hundred Liens, and she only charged for about fifty odd Liens without tax so I paid for it but also gave her a tip of six hundred." Pyrrha's eye widened at that.

"You paid her six hundred Liens?" Weiss called back, he nodded.

"Well as a way of saying thanks I'm going to pay you back for my share of the food." Jaune started to protest but the others chimed in.

"Yes Jaune, I would also like to pay for Nora's share." Ren spoke from his right; Yang spun and pointed a finger at Jaune, poking his forehead.

"Yea Vomit Boy, I'mma pay for my meal, also Ruby's while I'm at it." Yang said, as she stepped back and wrapped her arms around Ruby who struggled to free herself.

"Come on guys it's…" Pyrrha put a finger on Jaune's lips silencing him, which made her blush heavily, Yang and Nora smirked at that though Ruby pouted a little more, Jaune looked around. Every had friendly smiles on their faces, Blake even nodded to him which for Jaune was equivalent to a full blown conversation.

As they turned a corner they came across a decent sized crowd of people who seem to be looking through an electronic store windows.

"What the heck are they looking at?" Yang said aloud, they approached the store, a few people stepped aside talking animatedly about monsters, though Pyrrha though she heard something about the Arcs.

Jaune stepped up to see a set of televisions that were playing what looked to be footage of the siege of the fort in Leflore where team JNPR was stationed during their mission. The footage seemed to be taken from an aircraft, Jaune didn't recall seeing or hearing any Bullhead and what was more startling was the fact they didn't try to help them.

"Jaune is that you?" Yang asked as she pointed to one screen that showed a blond hair boy and red hair woman fighting a daemon, Jaune could feel his heartbeat speed up as flashes of fighting went through his mind. He glanced at Pyrrha to see that even she looked like a deer caught in the headlights; he did the only thing he could think to do and intertwined her hand with his.

Pyrrha wanted to be elated that Jaune was holding her hand but she couldn't. Seeing the video of their fight had started her mentally recalling the details of the gruesome deaths that the soldiers had at the hands of the daemons.

"That's so fucking crazy, is this really what happened when you were on your mission?" Yang said distractedly as she watched team JNPR charge against the advancing horde of monsters. She wasn't sure what those things were but judging how it looked that even Pyrrha was having a little trouble putting them down means that they definitely weren't like the Grimm she's heard or faced. Though it seemed Nora was the one that had the best results against them, her heavy weapon mixed with her strength made her a devastating asset on the field.

"Hey wait a minute that's Pyrrha Nikos?" A woman said as she pointed to Pyrrha on the screen as she killed another Plaguebearer, there was a murmur of agreement as others realized who it was. Pyrrha seemed to shrink a little as she scooted closer to Jaune; he realized that she didn't want to get swarmed by these people at this moment. To be frank either did he, there had to be at least a couple of dozen people and questions of that night are something he was not prepared to handle.

Ruby on the other hand wasn't watching the screens so much as she was watching Pyrrha holding Jaune's hand and getting closer to him. She relished the look of fear on the young champion's face, so she quietly slipped behind a few strangers who were trying to get a look at the screens and casually fell against them. The sudden force applied to them was enough to have them stumble forward right into Pyrrha.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I guess I slipped Miss." One man said, as he separated himself from her, making sure not to appear as if he did it on purpose.

"It's fine, there's no need to worry sir." Pyrrha said quickly not looking at him in hopes that no one would recognize her, it seemed that fate had other ideas.

"Wait a minute, Josh, that's freaking Pyrrha Nikos! Pyrrha Nikos is right here!" The man next to him shouted, almost instantly people were looking at them and shouting questions or asking for a photo.

"Hey that's the same people that are in this video!" A green hair woman shouted from nearby, as she pointed at Jaune and his team.

"That guy's also an Arc!" Jaune spun his head around to see a silver haired teen looking right at him, something about him seemed familiar. However his face was lost in a tide of surging people crowding around them, Nessa buried her face into Jaune's neck.

"Jaune! Why are they crowding around us like this?" Nessa asked, her voice slightly muffled, Jaune shifted Pyrrha to behind him while Ren and Nora took up side surrounding Pyrrha and keeping a barrier between her and the people.

The rest of team RWBY was ultimately separated from them, Yang groaned in annoyance, she wanted to toss these people aside but she knew they most likely didn't have their aura's unlocked and would get hurt. Weiss just snorted at disgust, both at the people and at herself for not being able to do anything to help her friends. Blake tried looking for a decent spot to jump from and to at least rescue Nessa from the overwhelming crowd; however she didn't have any luck.

"Why is he carrying a Faunus with him? She looks like a fucking freak." Jaune could faintly hear a man say and he turned to see the sneering mouth of a man nearby, a rage like he's rarely ever felt bubbled inside his stomach.

"Sheesh you think Nikos is banging that tall guy? I wonder how many times he's tapped that pussy." His eyes snapped to the sound of the voice to see a few teenagers laughing in the back of the crowd, his one free hand tightened into a fist, the urge to punch them was overwhelming

"Jaune I'm scared, are they going to hurt us?" Nessa whispered from behind him, his rage cooled, and he noticed that he could still feel Pyrrha's hand shaking, no doubt trying to control her emotions in the face of the crowd. But he knew his partner enough to suspect that she was also upset at remembering the incident in Leflore and wouldn't be okay soon in a crowd like this. It broke his heart and angered him to know that he couldn't make the people before him pay for what they're doing to his loved ones.

He scowled wordlessly at the nearest person who had tried to push their scroll over his shoulder to take a picture of Pyrrha. The man's face paled at the sight of Jaune's rage, Jaune turned his head around and met Ren's eyes, nodding to the green gunman, who in turned nodded to Nora.

"On it Fearless Leader!" She said and instead of holding back the crowd, Nora shifted around to the front of Jaune as he continued to hold Pyrrha's hand, Ren took up his position behind him. By this time team RWBY was across from them motioning them to come forwards. Though Jaune could see a few white vans pull up at the end of the street, reporters, this was the last thing he wanted to deal with, he tapped Nora on the arm signaling her.

"By the Order of the Sloth Queen this show is over!" Nora jubilantly called out, much to the confusion of the crowd and she proceeded to push forward, the powerhouse of team JNPR effortlessly pushed aside people. Soon enough Nora had pushed aside the last people in front of them, indifferent to the cries of outrage from the people she had pushed to the floor carelessly.

"Are you guys okay?" Ruby was the first to ask as they got closer, everyone Jaune said that they were fine; Ruby could see that Ren was watching her, she simple smiled back innocently.

"Alright we need to get out of here; once we're on the Bullheads back at Beacon we'll be fine." Jaune said, he immediately started walking at a fast rate towards the air pads, Nessa was still clinging to his back and he was still holding Pyrrha's hand. Who despite the agitation of the crowd and seeing footages from their fight in Leflore was feeling a lot better and felt wholly pleased at being able to hold Jaune's hand, sure it wasn't purely romantic but she'll take it nonetheless.

"What was that all about? Why were you on that footage?" Weiss asked as they finally got away from the crowd and started jogging towards the air pads, Jaune didn't answer.

"And what were those…things you were fighting?" Blake asked next, again no one responded, Yang sighed in frustration at the lack of response from any of them though she opted to remain silently for the time being.

Soon enough they were outside the air pads, various other students were milling around, no doubt killing time before they had to head back to Beacon. After paying for the fare for riding they soon found themselves on an airship on its way back to Beacon. Jaune rested the back of his head against the seat that surely didn't go as he planned; Yang took this as the time to confront them about what had happened.

"Jaune what was that back there?" Jaune looked at her, reservation on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what was with that video? It was taken during your mission wasn't it? What the hell did you guys get into when you were out there?" Yang asked, Blake, Weiss and Ruby all stared at Jaune expecting an answer.

"It's complicated." Weiss snorted.

"No it's not, all you have to do is tell us what happened." Ren spoke up at this.

"I don't think he means the event itself is complicated but there are certain elements that are…well complicated." Weiss just flung her hands up in frustration, Ruby spoke up again.

"Jaune we're your friends we're willing to listen whatever it is that's complicated or not." Jaune rubbed his eyes softly; Nessa was leaning against him, and was still shaken up by being in the crowd from earlier. Jaune didn't say anything and everyone sat quietly in the airship as it headed to Beacon.

Jaune couldn't but think back to the silver haired teen he had seen before; there was something about it that bugged him. If he really had to pick a start for this indescribable feeling it would have to have been at Leflore, there was something odd about the breach there. If his suspicion was right Saul was also thinking the same, he would have to talk with him about it next time they meet.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice came from next to him and he turned his head.

"Yea Pyr?"

"We're here." She gestured to the others getting up; they had somehow still managed to hold onto all the leftover food from before despite earlier, Jaune stood up with Nessa following him closely.

"Alright if you guys really wanna know what's going on I think it would be best if you got the full disclosure from my Father." Jaune said as he stepped out of the craft following team RWBY.

As if by magic, greeting them was his father who was dressed in blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal his severely scarred muscular forearms, with a pair of black trousers and shoes. Next to him was his mother who wore a simple black skirt and white blouse with black high heels.

Behind them stood a third woman that they didn't recognize, she was roughly six foot three inches; her skin was extremely pale, with white hair pulled into a simple ponytail behind her head. Though she wasn't old, if anything she looked incredibly young as if they were the same age.

She wore a glossy black segmented plate armor that covered her entire torso. On her shoulders were black segmented pauldrons with white trims that had two inch tall neck guards on both sides the plates that extend four down, that covered a black rerebrace. This in turn connected to a couter at the elbow and with the vambraces that wrapped around her forearms, lastly metal gauntlets that covered her hands completely with four pointed studs on her knuckles.

Around her waist were two black segmented tassets that went down three plates that cover the side of her legs, going halfway down her thighs, two white cloths spilled from the center of the tassets but only the front portion had the twin golden emblems of the Arcs on it. Around her knees were black poleyns that extended up four inches to provide additional protection to the thighs; around her shins were black greaves that extend over the poleyns and wrapped completely around the calf and extend down to cover the top of her booted feet. At her waist they could see a hilt of a sword; the pommel was a simple bone white skull, the grip was wrapped in dark brown leather, the cross guard was a simple rectangle strip of black metal.

"Mom? Dad?" Jaune asked as the stepped down the steps, Nessa ran to them and Arabella crouched down to hug her young Faunus daughter. It would have been a touching sight if she didn't give Jaune a cold stare that made death look like sweet mercy.

"We thought we'd come and greet you and your friends." Alexander said, though the look on his face suggested that there was more to this then he was saying Jaune gulped.

"Ah well that's very kind of you Mr. Arc." Ruby spoke up, his gaze shifted to the young reaper and she immediately stopped talking, Yang stepped up placing her hands on her sister's shoulders.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm beat, come on girls lets go to sleep, bye guys!" Yang said but before they could move the unknown woman stepped into their path of retreat.

"The Headmaster and I have decided that a certain talk needs to occur, if you wouldn't mind please proceed to his office." Alexander said simply, the four girls looked horrified but ultimately followed Alexander, soon enough it was just him, his team, his mother and sister with the stranger.

"So what's up?" Nora asked casually, curiosity etched onto her face, Arabella smiled.

"Oh it just seems that the public have been a little more riled with the release of the footage then we though." Jaune raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"So wait, we released that footage to the media?" Arabella shook her head and gestured for them to follow, Nessa held onto her hand as they walked through one of the various parks that encompass the school grounds.

"In truth it seems a third party has entered the mix and took that footage of your mission and gave it to various media stations, we suspect it's a way to instill fear and distrust towards us, and Ozpin and the council were sadly unable to suppress the media in such a short time." Arabella said as they causally strolled through the park, in the distance the lights to their dormitory building were still on with students milling around the entrance unperturbed by the outside world and events.

"So what are you going to do about it? I suppose you must have come up with something to mitigate the results?" Surprisingly this came from Nora who in the soft glow of park lamps had a thoughtful expression her face, everyone save Arabella and Nessa looked at her in surprise.

"What?! I'm not dumb." Nora said with a slight pout.

"No, it's not that Nora, it's just that it's the first time it seemed like you were actually paying attention that it caught us off guard." Jaune said, Nora shrugged, satisfied with the answer.

"You are indeed correct in that assumption Miss Valkyrie, Alexander and I have sent numerous files of on the field helmet footage of the battle for Leflore to show that our response was necessary for the good of Remnant." Arabella said though she just kept looking forward as they got closer to their dorms.

"What do you think that's going to do?" Ren asked, genuinely curious about the topic, Arabella took a deep breath before sighing.

"Well we're hoping to try and inform the public of this new threat, both councils, Vale and our own have figured that it's best to come clean with it now then to hide it until someone forces it out, and most likely in the worst way possible." Ren nodded slowly as he pondered the situation, then spoke again.

"You're hoping that this new information can not only instill trust in the government but win the people to your side also about how you're the ones that have been fighting this threat alone for how many years." Arabella nodded a thin smile on her face.

"Uh… Not to be rude or anything but we're kind of missing something really important." Pyrrha spoke up, and everyone turned to her.

"Who is she?" Pyrrha said as she nodded to the pale woman in black armor that was tailing them, Arabella slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand, Nessa giggled at that.

"I'm so sorry, Anna dear! Come here please!" Arabella said a little louder, the woman, Anna, walked closer and bowed her head to everyone, though she seemed to have a lingering gaze on Jaune which Pyrrha didn't like.

"Jaune, everyone, meet Anna Vermillion, she's the Sentinel Guard that I had come and provide additional security for Jaune and well I guess you three as well…though you seem like you don't need it." She said while the last part was addressed towards Pyrrha. Jaune sighed as he realized that she really had gone through it, but something else tickled the back of his mind.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Jaune." She said with a soft smile that radiated warmth, Jaune blushed a little at that, Pyrrha on the other hand was having a mental breakdown on what fuck this bitch was trying to do with her man.

"Uh…Yea, pleasure meeting you also Ms. Vermillion." She said before stepping even closer and hugging him, it wasn't the best hug he's even gotten though not as bad as Nora's bear hugs which always seem like they're going to break his back. It only got weirder when she didn't let go, after a few moments Jaune wanted to go back to Vale and sleep in an alleyway.

"Please call me Anna." Jaune could see even in the low light of the park pathway lamps he could see the look of utter rage on his partner's face, Nora and Ren looked stupefied. Nessa was equally confused though his mom seemed to be surprisingly indifferent.

"Uhhh Anna…you can let go now." He said, Anna stepped back and clasped her hands while looking at the ground, if it wasn't for the fact she was decked out in finely wrought armor and a sword it would have felt like some strange scene from bad romance movie. He could see that she was feeling a little bad about it but at the same time there was a small glint in her eyes like satisfaction.

"I'm sorry I've waited a long time to do that and kind of lost control for a second there." She said softly, Jaune rubbed his temples.

"Ren?"

"Yes Jaune?" His friend responded instantly from behind.

"You think you can brew some of that herbal tea that you keep in the dorm when we get there; I think I'm going to need it." Ren smiled at the weariness in his friend's voice.

"Sure thing Jaune, I'll even add some honey for you."

"You're the best." Arabella laughed a little and soon enough they found themselves outside of team JNPR's dormitory building. As they were about to enter a familiar voice called out to them, turning to see who it was, they saw a familiar pair of bunny ears bounding towards them.

"Velvet? Is something a matter?" Pyrrha was the first to ask, the brown haired Faunus was about to speak when she saw Arabella with a small Faunus child, who she found just adorable.

"She's soooo adorable!" Velvet squealed upon seeing Nessa, who despite being shy first immediately saw her ears and smiled, waving back. Jaune just snapped his fingers a few times to draw her attention back.

"Jaune who is she?" Velvet asked when she realized that everyone was looking at her, a light blush on her face.

"Velvet this is my youngest sister Nessa, and my mom Arabella." Instantly Velvet was in front of Arabella clasping her hands around his mother's, her eyes were practically shining with awe.

"It's such an honor to meet you Ma'am!" Arabella patted Velvet's hands.

"The pleasure is mine but dear would you kindly tell us what the original purpose was of you seeking my son out?" Velvet once again realized that everyone was chuckling good naturedly at her distraction, again her cheeks turned slightly red in the dim lights outside the building.

"Oh, well I was just wondering what Jaune and the rest of his team was feeling about this whole media storm going on about that footage of their fight." Arabella nodded before Jaune took over.

"Ah well we're just going to really ignore it for now, if people or the media have questions as team leader I would be happy to obliged them as long as they don't pester my team over this." Pyrrha couldn't help but smile sadly, for all of his intelligence and honor, Jaune was naïve when it came to the media, though she did hope that things wouldn't get too crazy.

 **A Few Days Later…**

* * *

Jaune was sitting in Port's Class, despite being a renowned Hunter both for his skill and strength he wasn't the best of teachers. Though it wasn't due to the lack of knowledge or experience as a Hunter, it was the fact that every minute of actual useful information is swamped by fourteen minutes of exposition of one of his many adventures. It was tiresome and most students just did whatever they could within reason to pass the time.

Only Pyrrha and Weiss actually seemed to pay attention, Jaune however was watching his email blow up with request from numerous new agencies, papers, and journalists that wanted to interview him. Though so far the was worst thing was earlier when a reporter had actually snuck his way onto Beacon grounds and tried lying about how he had permission to be there to interview him. Unfortunately for him Professor Goodwitch had turned the corner to see him there, suffice to say she wasn't very happy about it.

Though they weren't able to escape the questions and staring from the other students, at breakfast Jaune was barely able to go two steps in the line for food without having to give a short answer to everyone question that was sent his way. Jaune was very patient with it their questions, it was only natural for it plus he couldn't blame them for being curious. Pyrrha was the best after having experience with years of media observation from being a world renowned Champion of that one event, Jaune always forgot what it was called.

No one was able to get a word from Ren because he constantly would just sit quietly and stare at something while drinking tea.

Nora on the other hand would chase them away because she wanted to talk. Though it wasn't necessarily about the incident, she'd often go into tangents about how awesome Sloths or pancakes were. After a while most people just stopped bothering to get any useful information from her.

Though by now Jaune did understand a small percent of the pain that Pyrrha went through when she became famous, how she was able to do it was beyond him.

To add top of his stress was his new shadow, Anna seemed pleasant enough but she took her job a little too seriously. The first day on the job she had literally broken one of Cardin's legs, stating that her intelligence report said that he was still a bully, it didn't help that she had went to Nora first for advice.

Nora apparently not seeing that Anna still thought that the bullying was happening said that the best course of action in her opinion was to break his legs.

Suffice to say that Jaune had to force her to apologize not only to Cardin but Professor Goodwitch also who was the one that stopped her. Aside from that there was a few new rumors going about that he was two timing on Pyrrha, which ultimately brought him to his next problem.

He still hasn't taken out Pyrrha on a date; while Jaune may not be the most social attuned person he knew enough that when two people expressed a genuine interest in each other than the guy should at least take the girl out for a date. Sure it was an outdated concept for most women nowadays but Jaune always prescribed to the gentleman's code, which in this case is always put the needs of the lady first before your own.

Even then he wasn't sure, he had to do something that was both simple but meaningful, and he couldn't do a fancy dinner. Pyrrha would no doubt enjoy the date but to him it wasn't the same since he knew that she liked to be treated as any other girl. So taking her to a three digit restaurant would have the opposite effect so he needed to hold off on that for the first few dates at least. He needed something both simple yet meaningful, he had an idea but he wasn't confident if it was the best choice so far.

"Jaune?" He could hear someone say his name but he ignored them; he needed to find something that was a good date plan.

"Jaune." Again, seriously he closed his eyes and cupped his chin doing his best to concentrate.

"Jaune!" A notebook smacked on top of his head and he jerked his head back in surprise, and saw that Weiss had smacked him in the head with her notebook.

"Sheesh no need to hit me Weiss, that kind of hurt." She rolled her eyes.

"Please Arc, with a head like yours, you could head-butt a Boarbatusk and kill it." Nora, Yang and Blake all snickered at that softly, and he shot them all a glare. In the back of the classroom he could see Anna standing silent as always, he sighed.

"So what is it that you want anyways?" He asked as he turned back to look at Professor Port, Pyrrha chimed him from next to him.

"Jaune class ended three minutes ago." Jaune realized that Port wasn't saying anything but was just looking amused at him, and he looked around there wasn't anyone else in there but them.

"Well ain't that a thing." Pyrrha rolled her eyes and with a small smile nudged his shoulder with her elbow. Soon enough the friends all walked out into the hallway, the Vytal Festival was practically around the corner so Beacon had decided to give a week off to the student body to allow teams that were participating in the Festival more time to practice. The energy in the air was astonishing but Jaune couldn't help but feel the small sense of unease in the back of his mind.

If Jaune had to place the root of it, it would be the fact that many students from the four schools were now contemplating the prospect of fighting nightmarish daemons along with Grimm. There's been talk that quite a few students had actually dropped out of schooling due to it, and on the down low from his father, there's even been a few withdrawals from the incoming first year candidates of next year.

"Jaune…" An uncharacteristically serious Ruby spoke up suddenly; bring the entire group's attention to her as they turned to the hallway where their dorms were.

"Were you scared?" This made him blink, where the heck was this coming from?

"What do you mean?" She took a deep breath.

"Ever since your dad and the Headmaster told us about well…them… I couldn't help but wonder what it felt like seeing and facing up against those things in that Outlander town was like, were any of you scared?" Jaune looked at his team, who all seemed to be contemplating, Nora was the first to speak up.

"To be honest, I was pretty scared, fighting Grimm alone can be pretty intense, but this was different, the creatures of Grimm are soulless, more akin to mindless beasts that do nothing but hunt, the Plaguebearers, or daemons show emotions like people like joy but it's the kind of joy of giving pain. Thankfully I was with Ren and the others without them I probably would have been even more scared." Everyone nodding at this, Ren spoke next.

"In truth I think fear is a very common thing to experience, no one can truly be rid of fear even against Grimm; if we did have true mastery of our emotions then the Grimm wouldn't be such an overwhelming problem. So when we faced against the Daemons I can safely say that I was fearful not just for my life but for my friends also." He said looking at Jaune, Pyrrha, and lastly settling his gaze on Nora. Jaune coughed slightly and Ren moved his gaze away to look down the empty hallway, Nora still watched his back. Jaune fished out his scroll and tapped it against the lock on their door opening it, he gestured for everyone to come in. As Pyrrha brought up the rear she figured she should speak next.

"For me it was an eye opening experience, I was both in awe and terrified of this newfound knowledge. Awe was due to the fact that the Arcs and their people have been fighting against the Ruinous Powers for almost their entire lives without giving up, protecting people who had no idea that they needed the protection. However I was also terrified to know what was really out there, we've lived in our own little bubbles thinking there was only one true threat out there now since the Kingdoms are now at peace, but we're woefully wrong and due to that ignorance came a very high potential of disaster. Though now with this knowledge I can still say it doesn't give me any more comfort now that I have it if anything I just as afraid knowing that they're out there and what they are." Team RWBY exchanged looks with each other a champion fighter like Pyrrha who could no doubt beat them all in a fight was openly admitting to being afraid of facing this new threat. Everyone arranged themselves into the room watching Jaune, he sighed, now it was his turn.

"To be honest there's a lot of things that are on my mind with this, even I didn't know about these things until after the dock incidents a few months ago. That night my aunt Lilly gave me the information and I had a hard time understanding the depth of it all, for weeks I was troubled but it was supposed to mean and why it was important to know it. Then my father came to Beacon and we had a long talk about it. After that I wasn't sure what to do, I came to Beacon the place where Heroes are forged to fight and protect Humanity from Grimm but I had a more selfish reason than most. I came to Beacon to be like my family. For as long as the Arcs have existed we've been known as heroes but I'm no hero, I want to be one but only to exist as a part of that legacy. However when we were on that mission to Leflore I realized that I was never going to be a heroes of antiquity, especially when Saul stopped me from leading us into the main defense of the town, I wanted to help those people but not because I wanted to but because it was my duty both as an Arc and a Huntsman in training, yet at the same time I was glad to not be there." This drew a surprised look from everyone in the room. To them Jaune was often a very kind person who did his best to help both strangers and his friends, to hear him being glad in not protecting the innocent were really unexpected.

"Jaune what do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, concern and curiosity etched on her face at this development, Jaune raised his hands to stop her and everyone else was talking.

"Let me finish, the reason why I was glad was because I'm scared, scared of losing all of you to my mistakes, I knew that the four of us wouldn't have made an ounce of difference in that fight, we were too few and not experienced enough, even you Pyrrha the best fighter in the first years and possibly the best fighter amongst all the students up until the fourth years had a difficult time fighting them when we were in a fort away from their main focus, even then we were inches away from getting swarmed and killed. So if I had stubbornly convinced Saul to let us join the main fight I would have gotten you all killed because of my fucking pride, I couldn't live with myself if my actions got anyone of you hurt, so if I was given a choice again in saving one of you or a civilian, I would try my best to do both but ultimately I will always pick you guys over anyone else." Jaune said a feeling of shame coming over him a growing stinging sensation building in his eyes; he rubbed a hand over his face. Looking up he could see that everyone was watching him, mostly in a state of shock. He closed his eyes once more as he suddenly felt incredibly tired, he waited for the inevitable outburst of rage and disgust. He never got it instead he felt a pair of warm but powerful arms wrap around him.

"Jaune I think you're fine for doing that, anyone else in your position would have had the same thoughts as you." The soft almost musical voice of Pyrrha came into his ear; a surprisingly pleasant shiver went down his spine at her proximity. Yang and Blake tittered at the near scandalous sight of Pyrrha hugging Jaune so intimately. Ruby could feel a twitch develop in her eye at it but she had to conceal it more since it seemed Ren was watching her.

"Yea Fearless Leader, we trust you with whatever decision you make, because you're going to be the one that leads us to getting our own Castle and zoo of Sloths." Nora said fervently, the light of passion erupting from her eyes was dazzling. Surprisingly Anna who apparently was in the room with them spoke next.

"For what it's worth Master Arc I think it's an admirable thing to be able to recognize your own thoughts in such situations, you're young and inexperienced to the horrors of both full scale warfare and the creatures from beyond the veil." She said as she looked in him in the eyes, Yang scratched her head slightly.

"Uhhh what about you Ms. Bodyguard, how many fights have you been in?" There was a noticeable twitch this time on her face, her face turning slightly red as she looked away once more. Yang rubbed her chin slightly with an upraised eyebrow.

"Now that I think about it you don't look much older than us." She didn't respond and continued to look away but Yang was a brawler and good one at that, so she knew how to read an opponent's body from the way they position themselves along with the tensing and relaxation of the muscles that indicated what they were planning in a fight.

"How many missions have you done?" Yang asked as she crept forward, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Anna no longer wore her Sentinel armor, Ozpin had told her that dressing as a soldier would make more than a few students uncomfortable and that was not acceptable. So now she wore a simple buttoned up black military coat that reached down to her knees, with a pair of black military fatigues that were tucked into a shiny pair of black boots.

Though Jaune knew that she must have some sort of weapon on her, if she couldn't go by standard operating procedures, she'll improvise; she stood up and coughed into her hand.

"Well if you're so insistent, Ms. Xiao Long, this is my first assignment outside of Arcadia." This drew a few raised eyebrows.

"What do you mean you're first one outside of Arcadia?" Ruby asked as she played with the hem of her cloak.

"Well Ms. Rose, the Sentinels is an Order that was formed around the same time as Arcadia, we're given the task of protecting the Royal Family and the Capital or given missions by the Royal Family, we're trained from a very young age to fight, survey, stealth work, and a myriad of other things. Master Arc is the first Arc I've been assigned to protect due to the unstable nature of the Four Kingdoms with the surge of Daemons and those who affiliate with the Ruinous Powers before this I've never been outside of Arcadia." Weiss listened to Anna talk and couldn't help but voice her thoughts.

"Wait so the Arcs are the Royal Family of Arcadia, so Jaune can become Ruler one day?" Jaune shook his head slightly at this.

"That's not how it works for us, the current Ruler is Ruler for life until he or she dies or decides to step down, if he dies in the field of battle it's given to what is essentially his Steward who takes care of State Business until the council can convene and pick a new candidate which is then brought to the Family as a whole for them to decide, but if the time comes for when the Ruler wishes to step down whoever he's picked will become Ruler immediately but that can only occur if the Ruler is still alive when abdicating his position, if he dies before abdicating but has already picked an heir the council will step in only to help advise the new Ruler while taking care of their individual duties." Weiss nodded, slowly at this.

"What's the general purpose of the Council then?" Ren asked as he stood up to brew a pot of tea, Jaune tapped a finger on his bottom lip; man he really should have paid attention to Brin's lessons when he was younger.

"If I recall correctly the Council takes care of the day to day business of the Kingdoms, just like the Four Kingdoms, however there are a few differences that truly separate them. For one the Council does not represent the Kingdom as a whole, they are in fact only individuals who are charged with overseeing certain parts of Government, they only have actually power to over those particular areas and can't interfere with the others, thus creating separate branches that can only control so much power. There's the Civitas Administrator who oversees the daily management of civilian infrastructure, social and economic welfare and other sorts of Public Projects. There's the Mechanicus Order they're a little complex in their structure, it's broken down with basically three departments all represented by a Chief Magos, who's picked by the Lexico Arcanus of Logis, Genetor Order, and the Artisan Forge Lord, though they aren't limited by those fields, we have others who study chemistry, physics, and a few looking at space travel." Ruby raised her hand as if she was in a class listening to a lecture, Jaune grinned as he stopped himself.

"Yes Ms. Rose?" He asked with a feigned air, bringing a chuckle out of his friends.

"What do those, uh, people do exactly?" Jaune nodded, he had expected Ruby to be the most curious about them since she was a bit of an engineering enthusiast herself.

"Well to give a more layman term of them the Chief Magos is someone who's a master in his field and is picked by the three Orders to represent them at the Council." Ruby shook her head.

"No I kind of get that but what are the three Orders, they sound complex." Jaune pursed his lips thinking, what was the best way to describe them without showing he didn't have a clue either.

"To break it down like this think of them as this, Logis is pretty much a statistical and Logistic group, they plan and project the expenditure and needs of the Mechanicus and the Kingdom. Genetor is the overarching section that studies Biology and medical science, such as vaccinations or new surgery techniques. The Artisans are more the ones who make Military hardware, civilian construction and the weapons and armor of the Sisterhood and help make the individual equipment of my family." Ruby's eyes widened with awe.

"So they made your dads armor, that's so cool!?" Jaune shook his head at that drawing a confused expression from Ruby.

"They didn't actually make his, he was given that armor from a very special individual, I can't say who because I honestly don't know anything about that person other than he was a remarkable individual who has my dad's respect and loyalty forever." Ruby exchanged looks with her team, however Nora, Pyrrha, Ren already had a semblance of an idea on who Jaune was talking about, Alexander had given a little more detail on certain subjects then he had with team RWBY.

"If you don't mind Jaune, I think we should go get changed that way we can head out to the cafeteria to get something to eat for dinner, but we can continue there." Weiss said as she practically dragged a remorseful Ruby who was claiming that they didn't need to change, Yang and Blake just silently followed.

"Well I think we should get ready for also, me and Jaune can change in the bathroom while you girls get dressed here." Nora beamed a smile at him.

"Don't take forever or we're gonna leave you." Ren looked at Pyrrha who stood next to her.

"Please make sure she doesn't leave without us." Nora had a hurt expression on her face.

"Ren do you really believe I would leave you behind for food?" Now everyone just looked at her but she suddenly had a thoughtful expression take over just as quick.

"Yea I guess I would…" She mused, as she rubbed her chin, Pyrrha just giggled and waved them into the bathroom. As they changed out of their shirts Ren turned to his team leader, Jaune had changed remarkably since they were paired up as a team, if Ren had a picture from the first day they met to compare it to him now. Most people would have assumed they were two different people completely. This in a sense is true, while he's still plagued by doubts and fears of being a terrible leader along with holding them back combat wise he was remarkably different, a more overall confidence that the old Jaune lacked.

However the changes in his body was something that puzzled Ren, if what he was told by Pyrrha and Jaune true, these changes only happened after he had his aura unlocked. Which brought up another thought, his father was practically a god amongst men, Ren has never seen a man with or without aura that looked like that. He also had no doubt that he could possibly wipe the floor with them without his weapon or breaking a sweat and that was just based on reading about him in books and not seeing him in person.

"You can come out now!" Pyrrha called out from beyond the door, Jaune who now changed into a black V-neck shirt and blue jeans looked at Ren who was now dressed in his usual outfit. Unlike Jaune whose physique had changed drastically which forced him to now dress in whatever clothes he can get his hands on, Ren was content with what he had.

"You good?" Ren nodded, and followed him out; Nora was dressed in her usual outfit as well, and currently was bouncing on the tips of her toes waiting both the prospect of food and the company of Ren. Pyrrha on the other hand wore blue jeans, a black shirt, with a plaid red and black shirt on top.

Jaune took a second to practically drink the sight of her in, these hasn't been a day where she had looked beautiful. Whether it was waking at the crack of dawn with a case of terrible bed hair or after a day's worth of a harsh training regime she was always breathtaking. Jaune smiled to himself, he sounded like some cheesy gushing romantic movie character describing the love interest, yet now that he was in the position it felt right to say.

"Jaune?" He shook his head and saw that the three of them were looking at him; he grinned and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh sorry I was uh, just trying to remember all the important information you guys are probably going to ask of me." They nodded at that stepping out into the hallway; Blake was already standing there in her normal outfit.

"Hello Blake, are they still not done?" Pyrrha asked the black haired girl shook her head.

"They're trying to get Yang to hurry up but you know how she is." She just smiled politely; Nora looked around as if she dropped something.

"Hey wait a minute, where did Anna go?" She asked as she opened their door and looked back into their room, calling out for her.

"Nora I think she left." Ren said calmly as he stood next to the bubbly girl as she continued to scan the hall, she turned to Blake.

"Did she leave with you?" Blake thought for a second but shook her head.

"And you didn't see her?" Nora said with a small grin, Blake narrowed her eyes slightly at the small hint of challenge before she said anything Yang threw open the door and stepped out with her arms raised up.

"Ta-Daaaa!" Everyone just stared blankly at her, though Nora clapped in the back, Yang pouted a little.

"You guys are no fun." Blake rolled her eyes at that.

"No it's just that your sense of humor is about as cheap as the hair spray you use." Yang shot a dirty glare at her but pouted nonetheless and halfheartedly tossed herself against Weiss who stepped out from the door behind her.

"Weiiissss my partner is picking on me."

"Ugh get off me you top heavy brute." Weiss said as she tried to pry Yang off of her. Everyone chuckled as they headed down the hallway. Soon enough they had reached the Cafeteria building, everywhere Jaune looked he could see or hear people talking animatedly about the upcoming Vytal Festival.

"So you guys planning to participate?" Yang asked as Jaune pushed open the doors for them.

"Yea I figured why not, though ultimately it's really just a team exercise as a whole for us, not exactly thrilled to make it to the finals or anything." Jaune said as they got into line.

"Ah come on Jaune, it's a competition you gotta at least try to win." Yang said, but Jaune could only shrug.

"Still a team based competition till the end, so it depends on if you guys really wanna go all the way through with it?" He turned his head to look at his team as he moved down the food line.

"Oh yea let's break some legs!" Nora cheered with one fist raised into the air, Ren just shrugged though Jaune could see he was smiling.

"Well Fearless leader it looks like you're going to have to win the Vytal Festival." Pyrrha said teasingly, Jaune sighed; ahead of them Ruby was picking her glass of milk and could feel her eye twitching violently at hearing Pyrrha's interaction with Jaune. She took a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting go, it was bad enough for Ren to notice her but if anyone else it would potentially be disastrous.

Yang was the first to get to their usual spot, she watched as the rest of her friends trailed over to her but she couldn't help but focus on Ruby. She knew that Ruby still liked Jaune, however what was concerning her was the way her face would darken in a sense whenever she saw Pyrrha with him. Normally she would always root her Ruby in all things, even love, though she would prefer if she was at least ten maybe twenty years older but what could she do about that. Alas she's been noticing of late that Ruby has seemed to develop a small twitch in her eye, she knew that if she didn't deal with it someday it was going explode violently.

Soon enough both teams were sitting across from each other and eating their food, Weiss set her fork and knife down on a napkin beside her plate.

"Jaune before you continue with your, well, lesson, I've been thinking about something." Jaune tilted his head to the left a little at this.

"What is it Weiss?"

"Well you said that the Ruler of Arcadia is picked by either the council or the current ruler, how did your father get picked?"

"Hmmm, I'm actually not sure of that one." Jaune was baffled; it had just occurred to him that he's never known when his father stepped into power. As far as Jaune knew, Alexander Arc has been the High Lord since forever.

"That's simple; he was picked to be the next Ruler." A new voice said, and everyone turned to see Brin Arc standing with a grey shirt button up shirt that was rolled up to mid forearm, on top of that he had a black suit vest. The grey shirt was tucked into a pair of pristine black slacks that draped slightly over a pair of freshly polished shoes.

"Oooh Brin you're looking extra fine this morning." Yang said as she admired his physique a little, her eyes roaming up and down, Jaune gagged a little at that.

"Please don't hit on my Uncle, Yang." She grinned at him.

"Oh don't be such a stick in a mud like Weiss Jaune." Weiss gave an indignant squawk at that in the background.

"Anyways, to answer your question Alexander has been High Lord for a very long time."

"How long?" Ruby asked, but Brin just winked at her.

"That's a secret." Ruby pouted a little at that, Brin chuckled at that and waved as he left.

"Where's he going?" Yang asked, and Jaune shrugged.

"Sanian is coming back today so I guess he's off to meet her." Yang grinned impishly at that and nudged Blake a little distracting her from the book in her hands.

"So you talked about the Civitas Administrator as a council member and the Chief Magos of the Mechanicum, what else is there?" Weiss asked once more.

"Why are you suddenly so interested in hearing about this?' Jaune asked and Weiss rolled her eyes.

"This is the first concrete information that anyone from outside the Kingdoms has gotten about your people Jaune, I for one am very eager to hear about what is arguably the most powerful Kingdom on Remnant."

"Alright whatever, I guess the next would be the High Marshal of the Arbiters, who's line officers that enforce the laws of the Kingdom are referred to as Judges, they ultimately have the final say on any matter that they come across of, though there are the Court Judges who preside over the Legal standings of the current set of laws and oversee any matters that make it to the Court. Though in the courts it's still a trial by jury with peers that have no affiliation to the Arbiters is still implemented so it's still a fair trial system." This got Blake's attention.

"Wait why do the street Judges have ultimate authority over, if there's still a legal system like ours?"

"Well its simple the Courts get their cases by the street Judges if they let them live." Pyrrha turned her head at this surprised evident on her face.

"What do you mean if they live? Do the Judges kill people?" Jaune could see that he was going to have to navigate carefully on this.

"Well it's like this, the Lex Imperialis; don't ask what it means all I know is it's from a dead language, anyways is very harsh on certain crimes, if someone is accused and found with undeniable evidence that they've broke a major Law, such as Murder, Rape, Grand Theft, Treason, or de cultu Daemonum, they will be put to death immediately. However if the Judge thinks there's a possibility that the accused is innocent they're sent to the courts."

"What if they're found innocent after the punishment?" Blake interrupted him; Jaune looked up and could see frustration in her eyes.

"Well if evidence comes forth that proves innocence after the fact, then the Judge is required to give an adequate reparation to the next of Kin, if they don't have any, the Judge isn't held to obligation." Blake just huffed and an uncomfortable silence fell on the table but Jaune ignored it.

"Look I know you don't like how it sounds and maybe I'm just doing a poor job of explaining either way I'm going to move on, so now you know about the High Marshal of the Arbiters who is a member of the Council. Next there's the Military which is split between two people, the High Admiral of the Royal Navy and the Lord Commander of the Arcadian Army, both of these individuals also have access to their own Air Force that's been designed for their needs. The Navy has the Lightning which is better designed for escort, ship to ship fighting or air superiority whereas the Army uses the Avenger Striker Fighter which is better suited for Close Air Support missions against armor or infantry. The Navy's main strength would be its front line ships, though last I heard the Mechanicum was fixing to refurbish the Navy to match its predecessors, not sure what that means all in all the Navy's has about twelve ships active ships." Everyone gaped at the number; they honestly expected to hear a larger number. Granted most Kingdoms except for Atlas had even less ships to call upon, they expected more from the Arcs considering what they've seen so far. Jaune continued oblivious to the looks of shock that his friends were giving him.

"The army on the other hand main strength is its sheer mass, last I checked there's five main armies each led by a Lord Marshal who are subordinate to the Lord Commander. So that means each Lord Marshal is in charge of directing over six hundred thousand men and women. This isn't including the armor based Regiments or Divisions along with the Air Force with consists of Avengers Strike Fighters like I said before, Marauder Bombers which we saw in Leflore and a large amount of Bullheads fitted to go into war zones. So in fact it's really much more than that but for now that information on how many frontline infantry is a good enough example." Jaune stopped to see that everyone was looking at him flabbergasted at this new information. Now that he thought about it chances were that they probably didn't expect what is technically a Kingdom to have a large army at its disposal in peace times.

"Jaune what do you think is the purpose of having such a large army is good for? Wouldn't it be expensive to maintain it?" Ren asked but Jaune shook his head.

"While it's understandable that you think that, in the grand scale of things it's the lowest it's been for the past century, during the Great War the Army got boosted by a more nationalistic pride and the Army grew about three times size it is now." Ren nodded slowly, more pieces to the puzzle.

"Jaune how big is Arcadia?" Pyrrha asked the first to speak in a while, everyone else still contemplating the new information, Jaune hummed a little in thought.

"Well territorially speaking we're fairly large but I can't say where we are exactly but I will say it's not on the same landmass as Vale, Menagerie, Mistral or Atlas. Population wise I'd say is probably the largest there is in comparison to the other Kingdoms." Ren pondered this information, the Kingdoms were fairly large, and places like Mistral, or Atlas were fairly overcrowded in a sense due to the abundance amount of people. Vale had a decent sized population but was spread fairly wide so that isn't wasn't as crowded as the others. Vacuo also had a decent sized population but due to the nature of the land there was an equally large amount of cities or towns in the surrounding areas.

"Jaune if you have such a large army why haven't you been able to end this Daemon threat?" Blake asked.

"Well we've been slowly and painfully expanding the reach of our lands; the reason why it doesn't seem like we have that many troops on the field is because most of them are required to protect our territory from Grimm or worse, beside it seems you keep thinking of Daemons as if they're the same as Grimm. While both are equally deadly the Grimm have their strength in being a constant pressure that leaves no room for breathing to let Humanity develop. Even now Arcadia struggles to expand but Daemons are deadly in a different sense, they're a both an external and internal threat, it's also one of the reason why Judges are allowed to kill the guilty, once you've touched the other side you're tainted, forever a target for them to use as a way to get into our plane of existence. Not only that Daemons are notoriously hard to beat once they've gotten a foothold, thousands will die before they're beaten from our reality." Blake nodded at this, she didn't have any experience in that matter, if the Arcs have kept the people of Remnant as safe as they could then she had no problem.

"So what's next?" Weiss asked, and Jaune reached for a cup of water and took a sip from it.

"Well I guess now there's the Intelligence Agency, there's not much I really can say about that one, my aunt Lilly is a part of it, they do covert Operations and all that basic spy stuff you can think of. In fact we had two of them here that represented the Agency when my Father first arrived, Pyrrha do you remember?" Jaune said as he looked to his partner, Pyrrha thought for a moment when it hit her.

"You mean that man and woman with the two scars?" Jaune nodded at that.

"Sharben is who you're thinking of, she used to be a soldier but she got wounded in a Grimm attack and had to retire from active duty but she got picked up by the Intelligence Agency and now works as a Liaison for them, the man with her is just her assistant though a bodyguard would be a better term." Pyrrha nodded to herself, content with this new piece of information, for some reason as Jaune turned away she felt a chill go down her back and turned around. The cafeteria had a noticeably less amount of students in it but her instincts were screaming that someone was watching them.

That's when she noticed the silver hair teen that she had fought in combat class sitting across the hall watching her. She shivered not like before but out of disgust at the leer he had on his face. There was also a green hair girl, Pyrrha forgot her name but she seemed to have a face similar to how she felt, undisguised contempt for the boy was written all over her face.

What sent another shiver down her spine was the third girl; she was looking right at her, not in the same way as the boy who was just looking at certain body parts. She had the look of a predator in her amber eye, it was unsettling, she decided turned back around opting to suppress the feeling.

"Anyways we're almost done talking about the council so I'll try to condense the rest of it, the next seat is for the Sisterhood, whom you're all familiar with. My mother Arabella is both the Founder and Council member that represents them. Then there is the Sentinel Commander who mostly supervises over the security of the Capital and is a failsafe to keep the Council from doing anything treasonous. Then there's a Centurion of the Legion, whose representative rotates every month, I can't say who or what they are. Lastly the head of the Council is the High Lord which brings to a close my little lecture on the intricacies of the Arcadian Council." Jaune said as stretched his neck.

"Time sure flies by when you talk about such boring stuff Fearless Leader." Nora said as she pointed a thumb to the near empty cafeteria, only a few students remained and staff, Jaune just shrugged.

"I guess we should we back to our dorms." Ruby said as she picked up her empty tray, everyone else picked up their belongings. Pyrrha slowed down to fall in step with Jaune as he emptied the tray.

"Yea Pyr, something up?" Jaune asked as he emptied his tray, he held out a hand to take her tray and she graciously accepted his offer.

"Nothing Jaune, I just wanted to stand next to you." Jaune just shook his head, a small grin on his face; both teens followed their friends out.

It was nighttime; lamps illuminated the paths that led to various parts of the Academy grounds. Pyrrha could see still a few students from the other academies walking around or chatting; the Vytal Festival was so close, it even made her a little giddy. Or maybe it had to do that she was walking with Jaune, sometimes she couldn't tell.

"Hey Pyrrha." She turned to look up at Jaune, in the faint glow of the lamps she could see that his face was tinged red a little.

"Yea Jaune?"

"So well we're technically together now right?" She smiled.

"Together Together." Jaune grinned at that, internally he was panicking at what he was trying to do; he scratched the back of his head.

"Well…I was wondering would you like to go out sometime…just uh…you and me" Pyrrha could feel her heart go into overdrive, butterflies invaded her stomach and smile bright enough to light the night exploded on her face.

"Jaune are you asking me out on a date?" Jaune nodded, Pyrrha leaned closer to him and looped her arm through his, entwining her hand with his.

"I would love to go out on a date with you." Jaune felt both happy and worried, now that he's finally gotten around to asking her, he now needed to find a good date idea.

Fate seemed to decide to rain on their parade; Pyrrha's instincts were once more screaming that something dangerous was nearby.

"Hello there Jaune Arc." They turned around to see a Mistral student with black hair that covered half her face, a single amber eye stared at him. Jaune could feel Pyrrha's grip on his hand intensify, he couldn't blame her, whoever this girl was she was creepy. She stepped closer gazing up and down slowly at him before she settled on his eyes.

"My you are very handsome Jaune Arc." Jaune frowned slightly.

"Is there something you need?" She smirked, her gaze flickering towards Pyrrha briefly.

"Maybe but I couldn't ask for it in front of your…little friend here." Pyrrha scowled fiercely she made to move forward and confront this girl but Jaune squeezed her hand, placating her. Alarm bells rang in his head and for a second he could imagine a miniature version of him screaming and hitting a red button with the word abort on it.

"I'm sorry but we're going to take our leave now, have a goodnight." Jaune said neutrally, the woman stepped even closer and ran her fingers down his cheek, before kissing it.

"Well maybe we can talk again sometime, just you and me." She whispered in his ear, Jaune's hand hurt from the sheer pressure that Pyrrha was putting on it.

"I would advise you to step away from him." A familiar voice spoke up from behind them; Pyrrha turned her head to see Alexander Arc standing with another man. The man was roughly a little taller than her but much broader in the shoulders; he wore a black three piece suit with a white shirt and red tie. He had a grizzled face with thinning white hair and a salt and pepper stubble, his left eye was a mass of scar tissue.

Jaune was still looking at the woman in front of him; he could see a flash of hatred go through her visible eye, he grinned and gentle pushed her away.

"I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be taking that offer for a chat anytime soon." Jaune said calmly, she shot him an annoyed look but it was worth it because Pyrrha was practically radiating with joy at the scene.

"Well oh fair lady Pyrrha, I think we should go back to our dorms, it's been a long day." Jaune said with a posh accent, Pyrrha stifled a laugh.

"Why lead the way Sir Jaune." Pyrrha said doing her best to make her own posh accent without breaking down with laughter, Alexander watched assumed at the display his son and partner were putting on as they left hand in hand.

He turned to regard the young woman in front of him, something about her made seemed disturbingly familiar, and an unpleasant tingling sensation came like waves through his body. She smiled sweetly and turned away sauntering away without looking back, he scowled after her.

"Gordon go and find out who she is, something tells me we need to keep an eye on her." Alexander said turning to regard the man next to him. The man bowed slightly at the waist and walked away, Alexander looked up to the night sky but he couldn't see anything, clouds blocked the stars. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath holding it for a moment before letting go, slipping his hands into his pockets, Alexander Arc walked into the night.

 **Two Days Later…**

* * *

Jaune paced back and forth in their dorm room, Ren was sitting on his bed reading a book, glancing occasionally up to see Jaune fiddling with something.

"You're gonna wear the carpet out if you don't calm down Jaune." Ren said as he closed his book and set it aside his bed.

"Calm? How can I be calm, it's my first date with the girl I like, crap it's my first date in general, I think panic is a suitable response to this." Ren shrugged, Jaune did have a point.

"True but I'm sure Pyrrha would be happy just to just being able to spend time with you." Jaune sighed.

"I know and I would be also but this is important, it's the next big milestone in our relationship and I want it to be a good one." Ren smiled and shook his head slightly before standing next to his friend and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Jaune it'll be alright, trust me." Once more Jaune sighed, scratching the back of his head; he looked at himself in the mirror.

He was wearing a pair of grey slacks that spilled onto his pair of polished black shoes. He wore a form fitting black dress shirt on top with the sleeves rolled up half way up and a grey suit vest buttoned over it. He didn't think he looked half bad but he knew that whatever Pyrrha wore would probably make him look like a bum.

"Do you think Pyrrha's as nervous as you are?" Ren asked, Jaune just smiled and shook his head.

"No way, Pyrrha is probably taking this all in stride."

Across the hall in team RWBY's room the champion was still trying to figure out what sort of bra and panty she should wear. Should she pick something simple or something sexy, what kind of pattern, or color, should it be transparent or opaque?

"Pyrrha seriously would you just flipping pick something, Jaune's gonna be here any moment for the date." Nora said from her spot on Yang's bed, Yang and Weiss both gave gasps of surprise.

"Nora how could you? Don't you know it's important for what to wear in case she wants to do the twenty toes dance with Jaune?" Weiss rolled her eyes at that.

"While Yang has a more crass way of saying things she's not entirely wrong, it's important to wear something remarkable on a first date, a girl needs to leave a good impression." Nora sighed.

"Does that really matter they both know that they like each other, so why not keep it simple." Yang was about to retort when Weiss slapped her palm into her face to stop her.

"No wait, she's right we shouldn't overdo it, Pyrrha what do you think?" Pyrrha wasn't saying anything; she was still staring intensely at the clothes laid out in front of her. Nora who was watching Pyrrha panic just sighed and grabbed a handful of clothes, put them in her arms and pushed her into their bathroom.

"You've got five minutes to get dressed!" She shouted at Pyrrha who gave a muffled response. With one person dealt with there was another person to worry for at the moment, Yang beckoned for the others to follow her out to the hall.

Ruby Rose hadn't said a single word since Pyrrha had told them that Jaune was taking her on their first date. She was currently under her duvet unresponsive to anyone. Yang had watched her little sister go unresponsive to any of their calls out to her. It broke her heart and angered her at the same time, she wanted to be angry at Jaune for not noticing her feelings and Pyrrha for getting in the way but she couldn't it wasn't fair to them.

It took Jaune a long time just to notice Pyrrha but the thought if Ruby had been a little more aggressive then she would be the one fretting about what to wear. However that would mean Pyrrha who was also her friend would be heartbroken; the situation was fucked up in her opinion.

"I know your worried about her but you need to give her time and space to deal with this." The voice of her own partner said from behind her, Yang turned to look at her, concern evident even in her eyes.

"I know but I can't sit by while my baby sister is in pain." Yang said softly, Weiss placed her hand on Yang's shoulder.

"Blake's right, I know you care for her the most, Ruby's my partner also but we can't force our help onto her like that, she's just going to need to deal with this on her own." Yang nodded solemnly, she just hoped it didn't end in disaster

Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom, she was wearing a knee length green summer dress, a light brown belt was looped around her waist, and her emblem was stitched into the center of it. Aside from that she also wore red ankle boots and her trademark circlet, her usual makeup adorned her eyes, she looked around there everyone seemed to have left.

"You ruined everything." A small voice said, and Pyrrha turned towards the source and saw the red eye face of Ruby looking at her, open contempt on her face.

"I'm sorry it turned out like this Ruby but no matter what it was only going to be one of us." Pyrrha said calmly, though she did feel bad that the young girl was heartbroken but she should have known that this was a possibility.

"It could have been me that Jaune was taking out. No it _should_ have been me, I was the first person he met, I'm his best friend, and I should be by his side." Ruby said as she slipped out from her bed to stand before Pyrrha, though she still had to look up at the taller girl. For some reason Pyrrha thought of an angry small dog as the young girl stood in front of her with her arms crossed.

"What do you want me to say Ruby? What should I do? Throw my feelings away because you're not happy, that's rather selfish and childish of you to say." Pyrrha said, for some reason she felt incredibly annoyed with the young reaper.

"Yes, you're just a stuck up celebrity, that wanted to be normal but you're anything but, so stop pretending that you actually care for him!" Ruby said progressively getting louder and louder, Pyrrha felt her mouth curl in distaste but all she did was shake her head softly and start to turn around.

"Don't look down on me!" Ruby screamed and in a flash of petals slammed her hands into Pyrrha's chest and sent her stumbling back into their full length mirror, which Yang had bought the first week of school.

Outside the three girls heard the brief exchange and the sound of shattering glass, Yang flung open the door to see Pyrrha kneeling in front from their mirror, glass shards visible in her hair, the rest falling off her body as she stood up.

"Ruby what the fuck!" Yang yelled as she gripped both of her sister's wrists, in which the young girl struggled in vain to break herself from. Nora and Blake helped Pyrrha cleaned the fragments off and started picking them out of her hair, Weiss just looked flabbergasted at the scene before her.

"She ruined everything!" Ruby screamed, the look of utter rage warping her face. Yang could feel her heart break even more to see her sister changed from the awkward but cute and friendly young girl to this. She let go of her wrists, her hands falling limply to the side, Ruby rubbed her wrists and stared venomously at Pyrrha who kept a neutral look on her face.

"What's going on here?" A masculine voice appeared from behind them, they turned to see Jaune standing with his arms crossed, and Ren was standing behind him a small look of surprise even on his face. Jaune's face however worried Yang because he had no visible emotion on it, the last time she saw that he verbally lashed Blake for her actions. Ruby went pale as death seeing Jaune staring right at her.

"J-J-Jaune how long have you been standing there?" Ruby quivered.

"I just got here, but, I heard quite a few things, and judging from Nora and Blake picking glass out of my girlfriend's hair, I can tell it wasn't something pleasant." No one missed the distinction that Jaune used when he was referring to Pyrrha; Ruby could feel a tight squeeze on her heart.

"If you guys don't mind can you take Pyrrha back to our dorm to help get rid of the glass, Ruby and I need to have a talk alone." Yang stepped in front of Jaune.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing Jaune?" Yang's eyes had a tinge of red in them, not all of it was from anger, but Jaune put his hands on her shoulders.

"It's okay Yang, I'm just going to talk with her." The sincerity in his voice was enough to keep Yang from socking him in the face; with a frustrated yell she left the room, slamming the door behind her. Ruby stood there looking at her feet, unable to meet his eyes.

"Ruby." She flinched slightly at the sound of her name, the normal warmth and kindness that she was used too was no longer there, it felt cold.

"Ruby I need you to look at me." She shook her head, she could hear Jaune step closer, he placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head up, she didn't resist, excepting to see disgust, rage, or worse nothing. When her eyes met Jaune's, she saw tears; he had tears in his eyes, pain and remorse clouding his face.

"I'm sorry." He choked out and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her into a hug, he felt warm, it was such a pleasant feeling that she wished she could never let go but it bothered her about why he was crying.

"Jaune, wait, why are you saying sorry, I pushed Pyrrha into the mirror." She said, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt. He stepped back and ran a hand over his face to clear his eyes, Ruby immediately missed the warmth.

"I'm sorry because it's my fault for letting this happen, I've known for a long time that you and Pyrrha both liked me, ultimately if I picked one of you over the other I knew that I was going to have to have a talk with the other but I was too scared in confronting you over this. I didn't want to see you get hurt by my decision." Ruby could feel herself start to tear up again but she couldn't say anything as Jaune talked.

"But seeing it now I know I was a fool to leave it like this, now look you've attacked your friend Ruby, I know you're upset but ultimately I have to say this. I can't return the feelings you have for me, I love you Ruby but like a sister, please understand that I never wanted to hurt you but you can't keep this up, please you have to forget about me in that way." Ruby struggled to stop the flow of tears, Jaune watched his friend cry and his heart contorted painful, he reached out for her but she shoved his arms away.

"Why Jaune!? Why can't I love you as well?! Is it my age? My height? Am I not sexy enough?" She screamed, before falling to her knees crying, Jaune slowly wrapped his arms around her once more, rocking back and forth.

"I'm sorry Ruby." He said softly the young girl clung to him sobbing uncontrollably; she looked up, tears streaming from her puffy eyes.

"Don't leave me." She whimpered Jaune tucked his arm under her legs and lifted her up, walking to Blake's bed and settling her there, he kissed her forehead.

"I'll never leave you Ruby but I can never be with you, I'm sorry" He said standing up, Ruby tried to grab for his hand but he pulled away and wordlessly walked out the door. His eyes stung and his chest hurt as he rested his head against the walls out in the hallway. He opened it, the first thing he saw was Yang, when he met her eyes, he nodded once and the blonde brawler rushed out the room with the rest of team RWBY following closely to comfort their team leader.

Jaune sat next to Pyrrha who had finally gotten the last of the fragments out, she intertwined her hand with his.

"Do you still feel up with going on that date?" Jaune asked, with the day unfolding as it was, he wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to put it off for now.

"I'm still willing to go, because it's you Jaune." Jaune was slightly taken aback by that answer but he couldn't help but smile. While he felt terrible about rejecting Ruby's feelings it still had a weight lifting relief to it that he couldn't help but enjoy being with Pyrrha at that moment. He turned to Ren and Nora who both stood watching him, Ren had a small smile on his face and Nora have a foam finger that said that Pyrrha was number one.

"What?" Jaune said as he eyed it, Ren turned to see what Jaune was looking it, he just shook his head, it was pointless in trying rationalize Nora in that sense.

"Alright you kids have fun, Jaune Jaune you better bring her back before nine or I'm breaking a leg." Nora said sweetly, Jaune just gulped and looked down at his legs before looking up.

"No Promises." He said as he and Pyrrha went out the door, he could hear Nora laughing as they walked down the hall.

Jaune led Pyrrha out to the Beacon courtyards; there was a noticeable change in the foliage, instead of the lush green of life had given way to the colors of autumn. Pyrrha smiled as they walked through the gardens until she saw a familiar forest, it was the Emerald Forest, and the normal sea of green had changed to the brown and gold mixture of the fall. Pyrrha could do nothing but admire the view.

"It's beautiful." She whispered, Jaune grinned as he heard this and continue to lead her to a tall oak tree. It stood near the cliff that, Pyrrha gasped as she realized that there were numerous paper lanterns strung up to the bottom branches that gave a soft glow in the now failing light of day. On the ground was a large red and white plaid picnic blanket, Anna Vermillion appeared from behind the tree holding two baskets.

"Anna? What are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked puzzled on what the Sentinel Guard was doing there, she smiled.

"Master Arc asked me for my help in gathering the necessary items that he needed for your date, with that I shall take your leave." She said a small smile on her face as she bowed her head and walked back towards Beacon.

Jaune led her to the blanket and gestured for her to sit, which she graciously did. Jaune opened the first basket taking out four plates, utensils, napkins, and two glass cups, setting it out for both of them. He reached into it and pulled out a green bottle, Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"Jaune is that alcohol? A slight reprimanding tone in her voice, Jaune laughed slightly and shook his head.

"No, it's just apple cider, though I have some water here if you don't want it."

"Oh. Well in that case I would love a glass." Jaune opened it up and poured her a glass before filling his own, she took a sip, it had a strong but interesting aftertaste, and she hummed her enjoyment as she took another sip.

"This is really good." Jaune nodded as he set out a plate of Mini herb Frittatas. Pyrrha could feel her mouth salivate with the aromas smell of the food, she snuck a Frittata or two into her mouth as Jaune turned his back, it was like an explosion of taste that made her want more.

Jaune turned around holding a plate of grilled chicken on sticks with a reduced peanut sauce on the side; he saw that the Frittatas were missing four pieces. He looked up at Pyrrha and could see that she was trying to hide that Frittata in her mouth.

"They're good aren't they?" She covered her mouth with a few fingers though he could see the laughter in her eyes, he smiled before setting the last few items, a fruit salad, a large container of fettuccine carbonara, and a pan of apple pie. Pyrrha gazed at the food laid out before her, and she looked up at and grinned.

"You hungry?" He asked and she answered by loading her plate with food and takes a sizable helping of pasta and eating it. Jaune stifled a laugh at the sight of Pyrrha Nikos with her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel with pasta. Soon enough the two teens ate and chatted, an easy atmosphere considering the day's events settled onto them.

Pyrrha and Jaune settled onto their backs after eating most of the food, the warmth of Jaune's proximity mixed with good food and the fading light of day made Pyrrha sleepy. However she wanted to be awake as long as possible to commit this date to memory, she turned her head to see Jaune looking at her thoughtfully.

"Something on your mind Jaune?" She asked, slightly worried that he may still be upset about what happened with Ruby but he shook his head.

"Just you, Pyrrha Nikos." She could feel her cheeks heat up at that, and she suddenly noticed how close they were to each other. She needed something to distract herself with, she gestured to her dress.

"What do you think of this?" She asked hoping that he would fumble cutely but instead he smiled easily once more.

"You look beautiful." Pyrrha was going into meltdown, if this continued Jaune would have to carry her back. A blush came to her cheeks once more at that though of being able to wrap her hands around his body. Something touched her hand and she looked down to see Jaune holding her hand, he looked her in the eye.

"Pyrrha have you wondered why I picked this place?" She nodded with a smile growing once more on her face.

"It's one of the thoughts that have passed through my mind this past hour, so why did you pick to spot for the picnic?" Jaune grinned.

"Well it was in the Emerald Forest where we first became partners; I thought it was fitting to come here to official ask you if you would be my partner, or well girlfriend, once more." Pyrrha giggled slightly, Jaune chuckled also scratching the back of his head. Internally Pyrrha's heart melted even more for him at the romantic symbolism of his words and actions.

She looked carefully at his face getting slightly distracted by his beautiful eyes and leaned in closer; subconsciously Jaune did the same also. The lips of the two teens met and soon enough they were both lost in their first kiss, for Jaune it felt like an uncontainable energy surged through him. Pyrrha felt an exhilarating pleasure and warmth course through her body that sent made her want more. After a few moments the two teens broke away from the kiss but Pyrrha scooted closer and rested her head on Jaune's arm.

"I would love to be your girlfriend Jaune." He smiled, his heart leaping for joy and he kissed the top of her head. Pyrrha watched as the shattered moon rose above them, and she knew that despite everything that happened, today was the happiest day of her life so far.

 **A few Hours Later…**

* * *

She opened her scroll once more to flick through the various files that she had managed to gain from the virus she had uploaded to the CCT. Emerald and Mercury sat on the floor below her; Mercury was reading a comic book and Emerald filed away at her nails.

"Boss?" Mercury asked suddenly as he closed the comic book to look at Cinder.

"So is the plan still the same?"

"What do you mean dear Mercury?" He gulped.

"Well with the Arcs in town, isn't it going to be harder to get the White Fang into position? Last we heard from that Taurus guy was that he was dealing with Scouts from the Arcs trying to find all the ritual and staging sites, is he gonna make it on time?" Cinder placed her scroll down on the bed and clasped her hands.

"Oh Mercury have fate, the Arcs may be more challenging opponents except for Ozpin and a few others but they are just as blind as the rest, the plan will work whether or not they're here. Besides I've sent some…help… to Taurus." Emerald looked up at her employer a hint of unease on her face.

"Do you mean he…met one?" Cinder smiled.

"It seems that Adam Taurus has indeed made some interesting friends of his own, ones that match his rage perfectly."

 **Elsewhere…**

* * *

"We've lost contact with several scout teams in the Eastern and Southern sectors outside of Vale; this Adam Taurus seems to have a keen ability to outmaneuver us whenever the net closes in on him." Alexander said as he dropped a file on Ozpin's desk, which he slides closer, to read himself. Qrow, Ironwood and Glynda stood around to listen to Alexander speak.

"What's worse is we've also discovered at least several smaller villages that have been emptied, small enough that their silence wouldn't been seen as out of place, I suspect that the White Fang are gathering resources to conduct some ritual." Alexander snarled at the last word, contempt oozing off him that it made Ironwood's hand twitch for his weapon.

"Do not fret Alexander my men will guard Vale with their lives, so just keep focusing on the Outlands." Alexander rolled his eyes.

"Wake up Ironwood, I have no doubt that the White Fang and whoever's behind them already have assets inside the city, we never caught the Daemonettes that massacred the club Downtown. Nor do we have any clue where Torchwick was staging his operations from and how they were able to sneak into Vale air space unnoticed." Ironwood sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Look I'm close to breaking Torchwick, I have no doubt he'll talk soon enough and when that happens I'll come to you the moment I can with that information." Alexander grunted as he ran a hand through his hair.

"There isn't much I can do then, since the Council still sees me and my people as Auxiliaries, we must go through you for any security concerns which you continuously deny any request I ask of, so all I can do is wait. Though as I have said before there are still two thousand warriors of the Sisterhood along with an army Regiment stationed offshore and some assets of the Legion waiting in Forever Fall, ready to help when the time comes." Glynda raised an eyebrow at that as she turned to regard him.

"When?" Qrow snorted at her question and took a swig from his flask.

"He's hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, can't say I disagree with him." Glynda shot Qrow a cold look but he just smiled. Everyone turned to Ozpin as he closed the file and tossed it back onto his desk, he clasped his hands together, bringing them under his chin, and he eyed them all.

"I think it's time we've picked out next Guardian."

* * *

 **Cheesy Romantic scene. Check**

 **Ominous** **last sentence. Check (Though we already know what Ozpin's talking about so semi Check(?))**

 **Creeper Adam makes his first appearance.**

 **Anyways I had a hard time writing any of the bits with food in it mostly cause I got hungry thinking about it.**

 **Writing about the Council was interesting, and of course I'll leave the Legion up to interpretation.**

 **Ruby's confrontation with Pyrrha may not be to the liking of some but for me I think it's perfectly reasonable, she's young, she's passionate about whatever she takes a liking to, and well when emotions are running high, you don't think properly.**

 **We've all done things that we've regretted after the fact.**

 **Anyways that's all for now, leave a review, comment, or PM me if there's anything you wish to say, anyways have a good day or night or whenever you're reading this.**

 **One more thing I'm going to post updates of the next's chapter's progress on my Profile so keep an eye out for that.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Jaune sat in the front rows of the Amity Colosseum, he watched as Yang soared through the air to knock the last of their opponents out of the arena. Nora, Ren and Pyrrha sat by his side, Nora whooped loud enough to rival the other people in the stands with them. She held aloft a giant banner that was twice her size, with team RWBY sewed on it.

"Do you think she makes this stuff in advance?" Jaune asked Pyrrha, she smiled and shrugged.

"I would be wondering where she gets the supplies, we generally head to Vale to shop together but I've never seen her buying anything that would make this stuff." Jaune just shook his head in amazement a second later a smile splitting his face as he took in the electric atmosphere of the crowds' excitement. Ren looked over at him, and Jaune met the magenta eyes of his friend.

"Do you want to go meet up with team RWBY; they're leaving the stadium right now." Jaune nodded and they walked out of the stadium to the airships that docked with the Stadium, Jaune watched as Nora chatted animatedly with Pyrrha about their match. Jaune couldn't help but feel that someone was watching him, he turned his head but all he saw was strangers walk about.

He didn't see a certain girl with black hair and green eyes watching him, she stood in the middle of the crowd eating a mint ice cream cone. However behind her standing on a staircase above her, Anna Vermillion watched the girl, she had spotted her earlier that day watching her charge. At first glance she had seemed harmless but her gut said that she should take a second look. So she did, and the girl's gaze never left Jaune the entire match and followed him as they left the stadium.

A man obstructed the view for a second and she was gone, Anna clenched her hand, she needed to contact Alexander and tell him that something was afoot.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Alexander stood in Ozpin's office watching one of Atlas's naval ships hovering in the distance above the Amity Colosseum. He pulled out his scroll to check the latest updates from the High Admiral, he smiled slightly.

It seemed that the last of his orders were being fulfilled for contingency measures, however his mood soured once more as a new message from the Sentinel that was assigned to Jaune reported that someone had a keen interest in his son.

He immediately thought of the woman they met a little while ago that was all over Jaune. Gordon hadn't found anything out of place nor was the record too perfect; the woman seemed to have had a record of getting into fights in Haven with the girlfriends of many students, both male and female. However he couldn't shake the unpleasant feeling that she had given him that night.

"Is there something you want to talk about Alexander?" Ozpin's voice called out from behind him, he turned to look at the Headmaster.

"It just a feeling Ozpin." Alexander said as he made his way over to Ozpin's desk to sit in a chair across from the man.

"Is it about me finding a new Guardian?" Ozpin said neutrally.

"It's more than that but that is a part of the issue, to consign that young girl to that sort of torture is a bit cruel isn't it?" Alexander said Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose, always the same line people gave him it could be quite tiresome sometimes.

"Do not take me as a callous man who doesn't feel for the torment we're putting on her, it's not the first time I've been through this, and if you haven't forgotten I was there when we told Amber what happened to her and what she had to do, it breaks my heart every time but it needs to be done." Alexander ran a hand through his hair.

"Then let me bring someone else, the Sisterhood takes a great deal of orphaned girls whose parents died in service to Arcadia, I can ask Arabella for a girl suitable enough to handle the ordeal and we can keep and train her in Arcadia until she is ready to venture out on her own." Ozpin shook his head once more.

"If what you and Qrow have both said is true, we're running out of time and need to make the move now."

"If we act too fast then we have a risk of revealing ourselves before they've even made their first move, while a preemptive strike is a good choice, if the enemy wants or expects you to try and make the first move it's likely we're walking into a trap."

"I understand your concern Alexander but this is the best way, she's slipping day by day if we don't act now we'll set course for the defeat of both Man and Faunus at her hands, so my decision is final, she will become the next Guardian."

"What if she refuses?"

"She won't."

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Alexander stood on one of the balconies watching the young man named Qrow taunt the white hair specialist of Ironwood's. He had to admit she was good but she was getting goad far too easy by the more experienced Huntsman, he could see Qrow's lover sitting off to the side casually watching as the two destroyed the courtyard. Ozpin with Ironwood and Glynda exit the building below him, well that's going to put an end to the show.

His scrolled buzzed in his pocket; he took it out and saw a message from Gordon saying that his guest was on his way to Ozpin's office. He clasped it shut, and turned around, heading out of his room to go to Ozpin's office.

Was he getting frustrated with the lack of progress, possibly, all this secrecy from the population was necessary but only because the people in the Kingdoms weren't really capable of handling a harsher world. They were ignorant, Atlas also had a decent helping of arrogance in their own ability, peaceful times and the disappearance of Arcadia have erased the lessons of war for them, now they'll no doubt pay for it.

As for the other kingdoms, like Vale, they're afraid, and most people didn't want to confront it like Ozpin. They rather deal with it discreetly matching the darkness in the shadows so they can maintain the fragile peace they have. However those fears grow in the deepest darkest recesses of the mind and thus are jammed packed with their own daemons. It is from there that the monsters and nightmares are born.

It is also one of the reasons why they were slowly losing the war against the Grimm, every year towns and villages disappear and the habitable domains shrink further and further. Even for his people that have the strength and conviction to fight to the very end struggle for months to gain more than a dozen miles on their fronts. Their bravery to face down the horrors of both the external and internal was what set the people of Arcadia apart from the other Kingdoms.

Yet those two things are a necessary evil for the individual, fear keeps the body and mind rooted to reality if controlled properly and thus the person can see things with a clearer vision. Bravado can cause a person to make rash decisions that they normally wouldn't have made thus causing more trouble than it can solve. Though if the person knows how to use it right it can let people act when action is needed while others are stuck focusing on the logic that fear would bestow upon them. Thus in someone who's mastered themselves, bravery goes hand in hand with fear.

Alexander made his way to one of the elevators and hit the button to summon the lift; he recalled the doubles were coming up soon. He wondered if Jaune was going to have Nora join Pyrrha, the girl was quite rambunctious especially when it came to pancakes, sloths and her partner.

He still wondered how she was able to plant those sloths in his room with three dozen bottles of the red sap from Forever Fall. Though it seemed young Lie Ren was accustomed to hunting down Nora and her antics because he showed up to the room the moment Alexander opened his door. He smiled at the memory of the look of utter content that showed on his face on the otherwise neutral young man.

"Sir?" Alexander snapped out of his thought, in front of him was a tall man in a black military jumpsuit, basic armor plates covered his chest, shoulders, and knees. A belt looped around his waist, with a standard issue sidearm holstered in it. He had an unhealthily pale complexion like someone who's spent far too long inside, with thinning golden hair on his head.

"Ah Alistair, it's good to see you, I was just thinking about some things, I guess I got lost in thought." The man grinned and nudged the bigger man.

"Heh looks like your age is catching up to you old man." Alexander casually pushed the man to the side as he stepped into the elevator. Which to him was like having a full grown person tackle him but despite his looks, he could take it like anyone else, which is poorly.

"Jeez man okay, you're not _that_ old." Alexander grinned.

"That's more like it; you pups ought to remember who the big man around here is." Alistair snorted as the elevator dinged once more opening to reveal Ozpin's empty office, no one was here yet it seems. Alexander stepped to the side gestured to Alistair to sit while he went to Ozpin's coffee pot, even when the man was gone the pot was still warmed and smelled as if freshly brewed.

"Why are you here Alistair, I understand you've brought at least four others with you and I've already received your reports about deployment strategies that you may wish to use, anything else should be covered in your S.O.P." Alexander said as he poured himself a cup, Alistair nodded to himself.

"While that's true there's something that came up after and I came here to discuss it with you." Alexander turned his eyes narrowing.

"Speak man I haven't got all day."

"Well I've had a rotating shift around our staging site and Camelot was skirting the edges of our main Auspex range in the Forever Fall forest and located several minor hordes of Grimm congregating at the edge of the forest, upon discovery the Grimm didn't seem to react in a normal behavior instead of attacking they all fled." Alexander, drained the cup in one go and set it down unceremoniously.

"I need numbers and types, any particular reason why they're waiting there?" Alistair shook his head.

"So now we're got Grimm starting to crowd the borders that's just great." Alexander said mostly to himself.

"Sir, wouldn't it be a good idea to get some Wings in the air? It would be best to start culling them before they build up in numbers, shit I can deploy out there and start advancing on them before they get too big."

"No unfortunately we're still subordinate to the Vale Council and by extension Ironwood, that amount of firepower will no doubt raise some alarms and Ironwood is going to have far too many questions about what we're doing."

"The Atlas General?" Alistair asked a look of confusion on his face.

"Yes, he came here a while ago, seems he's in good fate of Ozpin though Ozpin ironically got snubbed by him when the Vale Council gave security control over to Ironwood after the Breach." Alistair tilted his head a little in confusion.

"Wait, why are we here then?"

"Because despites Ozpin and Ironwood's plan, something is going to happen, something that neither of them are going to be able to handle. Ozpin wants to keep things on the down low but he's been doing a terrible job of countering the Enemy. Ironwood wants to show off Atlas strength at the cost of others with a poor mix of duty and nationalism. You and I both understand the implication of what it means for the Ruinous Powers to be here, this isn't something the world at large is prepared for. As for why I'm moving troops around Vale it's only as a last and inevitable resort." Alistair nodded, the elevator dinged again and Ironwood walked out followed by a white hair woman who seemed incredibly mad. Alexander thought it was cute; it reminded him of making Mina go to sleep early for breaking a window or fighting at school when she was a little girl.

"That insufferable cretin!" She yelled, and immediately started mumbling to herself as she paced back and forth; Ironwood just massaged his temples as he stood in front of the elevator.

"Tough day?" Alistair quipped; the woman shot a glare so fierce that he swore the room dropped in temperature by several degrees.

"Who's this?" Ironwood asked as he also just noticed the man sitting in the chair.

"Ah this is one of my men, Captain Alistair Tulsdore, he was just informing me about some skirmishes in southern regions of Sanus that his men took apart of, you can leave now Captain, I'll expect the written report tomorrow." Alistair nodded before saluting and stepping into one of the elevators. As it closed the second elevator door dinged as it opened. A smiling Qrow stood between an annoyed Glynda and a slightly amused but ultimately tired Ozpin.

"What were you thinking?!" The woman yelled the moment she saw Qrow, he just shrugged.

"What's wrong with saying hi?" The woman just sputtered in a mix of surprise and anger. Alexander wondered if she was going to start frothing at the mouth.

"While Qrow may be an idiot, acting like the way you did certainly did not help the situation." Glynda said as she crossed her arms and stood next to Ozpin as he sat down with a freshly poured cup of coffee which he absent mindedly took a sip from.

"He was drunk!" She shouted Glynda rolled her eyes.

"He's always drunk!" Everyone looked at Qrow who was drinking from a flask, he raised a single and everyone waited until he was finished drinking from it.

"What?" Alexander was the only one to laugh off to the side, Glynda shot him a glare also but his wife has given him worse.

"So Qrow, what brings you back to Beacon, I though you said you were going hunting for clues from some of your contacts?" Alexander asked as he moved closer standing to the right of Qrow, Qrow looked at the white hair woman.

"Why's she here Jimmy?"

"General." She corrected him but he ignored her, Ironwood just stared at Qrow.

"Winter, we'll talk about this on my ship." She snapped her head back in surprise.

"But Sir?!"

"Winter, now." She snapped her mouth shut and gave a rigid salute before walking off, giving Qrow a stink eye the entire time, though Alexander could see him wink and annoy her even more.

"As you were saying Qrow?" Ozpin asked the moment the elevator door closed.

"Well I was going through all my contacts in the Underworld but as far as we're concerned there's no movement."

"So no one knows what the White Fang are doing or the White Fang are just not doing anything?" Alexander asked Qrow shook his head.

"No as in no one's doing anything, everyone has essentially gone to ground, hiding." Ozpin narrowed his eyes at that.

"Like rats fleeing a ship." Alexander said a loud mostly to himself.

"My thoughts exactly." Qrow said Ozpin leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"I'm going to call her tomorrow." Ozpin said and everyone looked towards him, Alexander could see that Glynda looked a little apprehensive, though Qrow looked indifferent on the most part.

"I still think we should pick someone other than her." Alexander said as he rubbed his face softly, once more he felt incredibly tired.

"Why? Because he's your kid's girlfriend?" Qrow asked, anyone else would have thought Qrow was trying to start something but Alexander had the feeling that the man was just curious.

"Not even close, I just think she's not mentally ready for such a task, a strong fighter sure, at the end of her time in Beacon she would no doubt give you a run for your money and after some time in the field as a Huntress she may even be able to take me down as well." Qrow grinned he sipped from his flask.

"Sounds like you're just giving yourself leverage in saving face, old man?" Alexander laughed.

"Maybe you're right but nothing's wrong with trying to lose with some dignity Qrow." He said Ozpin turned away from them.

"So be it, I'll call her up." Qrow chuckled.

"I guess you can say she'll know the truth behind the _Vale_." Glynda started to smack him with her crop much to his amusement.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Jaune sat in the front row of the stands with his friend and teammate Lie Ren seating, they had just watched as Nora surprisingly dominate the doubles match. She was chasing a guy with dual swords that combined into a two bladed staff and a girl with a double headed battle axe that detached at the base with a base to swing around with. Jaune honestly thought the weapon was stupid but who was he to judge?

Jaune smiled, everyone had expected Pyrrha to carry the doubles round. So the two opponents had immediately ignored the bubbly hammer user much to her annoyance, which was their first and last mistake. So imagine their surprise that not only were they unable to get Pyrrha Nikos to break a sweat, her teammate was a powerhouse in her own right. Now people were laughing more at the absurdity of the fight then reveling in the fight itself.

Pyrrha finally stepped in to put an end to the humiliation of their foe, throwing Akoúo the bronze shield sped towards the guy was in front, the shield sped towards the ankle impacting it hard enough to cause him to slip, his partner ran over him. Both were sprawled on the floor giving Nora the opening she needed to smash them like a golf ball out of the ring. Jaune couldn't help but laugh at the display, though he did catch Pyrrha's eye to which to two smiled back at each other warmly.

"Awww you guys really just bring adorable to a whole new level." A familiar voice came from behind him and he turned to see Coco Adel standing with her team above him.

"Oh hey Coco, you guys waiting for the next doubles round?" Coco grinned and cracked her knuckles.

"I hope we're picked next, me and Yatsuhashi are gonna kick ass." The man himself towering over her from behind just shrugged, Velvet was surprising standing very close to him, while Fox was munching on popcorn. Jaune was never sure what the guy was thinking; he was almost as inscrutable as Yatsuhashi.

"Right, anyways we're gonna go and met Nora and Pyrrha, they just finished their match." Jaune said as he and Ren both stood up, Coco nodded as her team took their seats.

"Bye Jaune!" Velvet called out as they ascended the steps, and started making their way to the stadium prep rooms for the matches.

"I assume Pyrrha's going to go to the finals?" Ren asked

"Yea, she seemed really keen on fighting so I let her do the doubles with Nora, if she hadn't I would have probably been Nora's partner." Ren hummed his agreement; he wasn't much for the whole tournament thing. However if Jaune had asked him to be Nora's partner for the doubles round he would have accepted instantly.

"Fearless leader!" A loud voice as they got closer to the prep rooms, Nora came bounding out a massive smile on her face, Pyrrha following closely behind. Jaune stepped closer to Pyrrha wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissing the top of her head.

"You guys did phenomenal out there." Pyrrha smiled softly and shook her head.

"Nora deserves the most credit; she was the one that knocked them out finally." Nora hopped next to Pyrrha and bumped her hip with Pyrrha's.

"Nonsense Pyrrha, if it wasn't for you setting them up perfectly I would have never been able to catch them." Ren stepped forward.

"She's right Pyrrha, it was a team effort." Pyrrha just smiled and the four teens walked down the corridor. As they passed one of one of the many in wall monitors that were constantly broadcasting the Tournament, Jaune noticed who was up for the next double rounds.

"Oh hey, Coco and Yatsuhashi are up next." Pyrrha turned to the screen and saw that they were facing that guy that she had fought a while ago. Ever since that day they sparred he's left a bad vibe with Pyrrha, she knew that he wasn't trying his hardest at first it irked her when instead of trying harder he had gave up.

"Do you wanna go watch?" Ren asked but Jaune shrugged turning to Pyrrha.

"What do you want to do Pyrrha?" She thought about it but she also felt hungry so she decided against it.

"I'm afraid it seems that I've worked up an appetite, so I'll just watch it at one of the food stands on the Fair grounds." Ren nodded and looked to Jaune.

"Well I think I'll accompany you Pyrrha, if you don't mind."

"I would love your company." She smiled back; Nora snickered at that and nudged Ren a little with her elbow. Jaune just rolled his eyes and turned around with Pyrrha heading back towards the docking bays of Amity Colosseum.

"So are you excited about going to the finals?" Jaune asked, breaking the comfortable silence they had, a few people still gaped in awe or fandom at seeing Pyrrha but for the most part they hadn't approached her as they walked.

"I can't say I'm anymore excited then I'm normally, it's always nice to get a good fight in, especially one where no one truly gets hurt or facing something like them." Jaune frowned a little at that; he knew that Pyrrha was still having a hard time dealing with Daemons. He was also becoming increasingly aware that recently she's been having trouble sleeping, Jaune would always wake up whenever Pyrrha was dealing with what he assumed were nightmares.

He never said anything to her but he'd watch as she sit up time and time again gasping for air, most of the times she would just sit there until she realizes that it was just a dream. After which she's lay back down and looks at him, though she was never able to see that he was watching her, he however knew that she was awake by the sound of her shaky breathing.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha elbowed Jaune in the ribs.

"Oh what? I'm sorry did you say something?" Jaune asked his face heating up as he realized that he spaced out.

"I asked what are you thinking about, you spaced out after I answered your question." Jaune laughed slightly though he could tell that it wasn't very convincing by how forced it sounded, Pyrrha just stared at him intently.

"I was just thinking about Saul, he hasn't returned in a long time." Jaune figured the best way to avoid telling the truth was to tell another truth, it must have worked because Pyrrha's gaze softened.

"Jaune I'm sure he's fine, he's probably just busy with things, and maybe you can ask your father if he knows where he is." Jaune blinked at that, he honestly hadn't thought of that until she said that.

"Speaking of your family, I haven't seen Anna around; I figured she'd stick close to you in between the matches." Pyrrha asked Jaune just shrugged.

"Who knows, she's probably watching me even as we speak." He said as they sat down in one of the aircrafts docked, taking seats in the far corner. There were a few other rather nondescript people there, practically silhouettes in the background of their lives.

However Jaune wasn't wrong in his assessment of his apparent bodyguard, she was actually sitting right across from them disguised as an old woman that looked to be in her mid to late fifties.

"I also heard from Sanian that your father has been rather upset of late." Pyrrha dropped her voice down a little so that only Jaune could hear her.

"Yea, from what he tells me whenever I see him, Ozpin and Ironwood has been rather taxing to his patience, not sure what exactly it is their talking about, but it's enough to rattle my father." Pyrrha frowned, if Alexander Arc was getting worried then something's afoot, she just hoped that they wouldn't have to deal with it.

"Hey Pyrrha?" She turned to look up at Jaune; he had his eyes closed as if he was thinking hard about something.

"Yea Jaune?"

"What do you remember of that Mercury guy? The one you fought last semester after kicking the shit out of Cardin and his team, which by the way was still an awesome fight." Pyrrha smiled a little.

"Thank you, so what do you wanna know about Mercury?"

"Nothing special, I mean you've always been good at reading people, I just wanna know what your thoughts are." Pyrrha tilted her head a little, it was a bit strange for Jaune to be asking but she'd indulge him.

"Well from what I can tell he's a rather adept fighter, I could tell that he was just trying to test me, which is why I held back at first, I didn't want to fight someone who wasn't sure if they were going to be serious about fighting. However there was something that was kind of interesting, he had a strange smell to him." Jaune raised an eyebrow at that.

"Smell?"

"Yea, it was strange, it was like a mix of sweet and sour, like cinnamon and spoiled milk, I can't really put my finger on it but it wasn't pleasant." Jaune hummed at this that was a peculiar thing to notice considering what it was, it sounded vaguely familiar to something Brin once told him.

"Thanks Pyrrha that was really insightful, now let's go get something to eat." Jaune said as he felt the deceleration of the aircraft. Pyrrha stood up as they felt the final clamps of landing gear make contact with ground, there was a small whir of servos as the doors opened Jaune and Pyrrha stepped out into the afternoon sunlight.

The sound of laughter and a general hum of conversation rose from the Festival grounds, little kids ran around yelling in joy and excitement, the aroma of good food made Pyrrha's stomach growl loudly, Jaune smiled as Pyrrha blushed a little.

"Alrighty then so what do you want to eat? It's my treat." Jaune asked as they stepped off the platforms.

"Jaune you don't have to." Pyrrha started but Jaune raised his hand to politely cut her off.

"Pyrrha please, I would like to congratulate my girlfriend on her victory, so I'm going to buy whatever you want." Jaune said with a patient look on his face though Pyrrha could see the twinkle of humor in his eyes, she smiled and nudged his side a little with an elbow.

"Fine, I shall indulge your persistence, but don't blame me if your wallet feels lighter." Pyrrha said with an impish smile, Jaune blanched a little but grinned nonetheless.

"That's fine by mean you can repay me back later." Jaune said as they passed by a few stalls, people looked to be engrossed by Coco's fight that was currently underway.

"I hope you don't mean by me paying for a meal Jaune. Don't you know that the man should pay for the ladies meal?" Jaune could feel his hand twitch in an effort to smack himself in the face, damn Gentleman's Code. Jaune had insisted that he'd pay for their last date which was really just the two of them going into Vale for coffee together, though really Pyrrha had green tea and Jaune had hot chocolate.

"Well maybe I can get rewarded another way." Jaune said a little more quiet so that no one nearby might overhear him, except for Pyrrha. He smiled as the desired result exploded in the form of Pyrrha's cheeks going dark red, she smacked Jaune's arm.

"Jaune, not in front of the others." She playfully scolded him, though she knew that he was only teasing her. Jaune was the perfect gentleman in not trying to push the boundaries of their relationship without her being comfortable with it.

Aside from their very first date they haven't really kissed like that, sure there were the occasional pecks on the cheeks or lips but nothing as intimate. Though that didn't mean she hasn't thought about it, there's been many moments where she's wanted to, explore, but she was far too nervous to do something like that.

"So what do you want first?" Jaune asked, changing the topic, Pyrrha hummed softly as she looked around; there were noodle stalls, Barbeque, pizza, sandwiches, and sweet stands. Pyrrha eyed one stand in particular that was selling various types of fudge. She could feel her mouth salivate and her stomach rumble at the sight. She walked up to the stall; the two workers were ecstatic to see that Pyrrha Nikos was looking at their food.

She whirled around to look at Jaune, doing her best puppy expression but Jaune had already pulled out his wallet, and nodded at her, she smiled and immediately started picking various types of fudge, Jaune made sure that they had multiple of each. Not to indulge Pyrrha but to make sure she'd leave enough that they could share it with everyone except for Nora.

Ren would quite possible murder Jaune, if Nora somehow got her hands on a large amount of chocolate, caffeine, or sugar. There was a joking fear amongst their friends that if Nora had gotten her hands on a large amount of sweets that she would develop the ability to break the universe or something.

Several pounds of fudge later, with a very empty wallet, Jaune and Pyrrha once more walked the grounds in a comfortable peace, idle small chat about the Festival and fights. Though it was broken by the occasional break for fudge of which Pyrrha would feed to Jaune of what she had in hand at the moment. Jaune carried the extra ones for their friends.

"So I guess it was kind of a surprise how badly Coco and Yatsuhashi lost to Mercury and Emerald." Jaune said as they approached main grounds of Beacon again.

"Hmm from what I can tell Mercury was able to absorb the impact of Yatsuhashi's sword quite well, maybe he's got something that diverts kinetic energy, it would be explain why he uses his legs for fighting." Pyrrha mused aloud, though it was slightly jumbled by the fact that she was still eating the last of her fudge. Jaune just shrugged, it hadn't really occurred to him but he still wasn't the best fighter on their team, heck as far as he knew he was still the weakest of all his friends.

In the corner of his eye he could see that Pyrrha had dropped back, he turned and saw that she had her scroll out.

"What's up?" He asked and Pyrrha looked up.

"Oh it just seems that Headmaster Ozpin wants to see me."

"Huh, that's strange, what for?" She shook her head.

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to go see him now, I'll message you when I'm done." Jaune nodded and watched Pyrrha head towards Beacon tower.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Lilith, or now known as Lilly Arc stood over the corpses of three Arcadian agents. They were all sitting around a table in one of their safe houses in downtown Vale; an empty warehouse was a better description if any. She had her bolt pistol in hand, two Sisters stood behind her scanning the room with their bolters raised. She knelt down and lifted the head of the corpse closest to her, the woman had a peaceful visage on her face, and she was no doubt the first to die.

What drew her attention was the fatal wound, a puncture wound at the base of her skull from behind it seemed. Somehow it reminded her of one of the reports that she had come across after the debacle of The Breach a little while ago.

Ozpin's right hand man had stated that the Sisterhood squad that got on the train with him had encountered a fierce opponent while he went after Torchwick and the controls. She had not only held her ground but soundly beat the warriors in close combat despite being outnumber by a large portion.

The fact that she was able to do that meant that she was more than some lowlife grunt, she had training, she had skill, and she was vicious in application. Lilly smiled a little, what she would have given to have her on her personal team.

She felt a tingling sensation tickle her mind and spun as in time to see one of the Sisters firing a three round burst at someone, missing completely. A parasol shot past her shoulder and opened behind her, whoever had it use it to pull her forward and offset her balance, Lilly couldn't see what happened next but the parasol with the multicolored girl disappeared.

The sister on the other hand was lying face down on the floor, a pool of blood spreading from her beneath her. Lilly stood up and pressed her back against the armored form of the second sister.

"Vox for backup now." She hissed to the woman, a small crackle of an external vox device being switched to could be heard.

"I can't, the Vox is down."

"Shit." Lilly said as she scanned the warehouse, she was waiting for the lights to be shut off but surprisingly enough they weren't. Did the person have such confidence that she could take them on in the light. Her gaze flickered to the dead Sister before her, and figured that was a good enough answer if any.

"How long till we need to check in with the other teams?" She whispered to the Sister at her back.

"Five minutes but it might take another ten minutes for them to get here, unless we try to meet them half way." She said Lilly gritted her teeth, judging by the bitch that was hunting them her semblance was probably some teleportation power. The exact details would be difficult to work out since they couldn't have a nice talk about it.

There was a tingling sensation in the back of her mind that seemed to paint a picture that she was going to come from her left. With no warning, Lilly turned and tackled the sister from behind as the girl popped back up from that direction, her blade occupying the space where the Sister's head once was.

Lilly looked at her and saw that she had different colored eyes, if she recalled correctly the Genetors called it heterochromia or something, she wasn't a part of the Mechanicum so she didn't care.

She blinked, the colors switched sides, which was weird and she scowled at her, Lilly snapped up her bolt pistol and fired, the girl shattered like glass. There was a tug in her mind and she rolled as the girl reappeared in front of her thrust the blade forward once more.

The Sister more aware of what was happening side stepped the blade and grabbed the girls forearm. In a feat of gravity defying acrobatics, she swung on the Sister's arm, going around her and wound up on her shoulders and pulling the arm up then stomping down on her elbow. While not enough to break it, it forced her to let go of her forearm.

"Get down!" Lilly yelled and fire another shot at the shorter girl, the Sister dove to the side and picked up her bolter, and started to fire, back flipping away she dodged the first few bursts but the fourth one clipped her, she shattered again. Lilly felt a tug from behind rolled to the side as the girl appeared from behind her and tried stabbing her again.

Her face contorted in fury again and she lunged at Lilly, this time the blade pierced Lilly's black matted cuisses of her left leg. With a grunt of pain she fell back and sloppily rolled away as the Sister opened fired again. Once more the shots missed, but this time she didn't shatter into glass but rather continuously moving just in the nick of time to avoid the shots.

Lilly raised her pistol and trained it on the small girl as she flipped over the Sister and thrust her sword again, this time the blade slide off leaving a groove down her back though unable to penetrate the armor. However as she landed behind her, the small girl kicked back striking the helmed face of the Sister as she turned around. As the Sister fell heavily to the floor this gave Lilly the opening she needed to shoot the girl straight in the chest.

The bolt impacted her chest; the round however was unable to penetrate the aura of the girl but the kinetic energy was enough to send her flying. The mass trigger in the bolt was tripped upon hitting the aura exploding in her face. Outside the sounds of Bullhead engines could be heard, the girl sat up from where she landed and eyed Lilly just as Lilly pulled the trigger again, she shattered like a pane of glass.

Lilly continued to sit there with her bolt pistol held up, slowly sweeping the warehouse in case she came back. She didn't, twelve Sisters came sweeping into the warehouse, and two immediately went to the side of the other Sister that was alive though dazed after getting kicked in the face. While another two went to tag all the bodies.

A sister that had a red and white device on her right arm indicated that she was adept in field medical care came towards Lilly and immediately went to work in removing her cuisses to address the wound. Lilly saw the sergeant of the squad and called out to her.

"Find the documents that Abel's team had, it's important that we recover them as quickly as we can." The woman nodded and directed the rest of her squad to search the warehouse. It was the whole reason that Lilly had come there, for weeks since The Breach; Alexander had tasked Lilly and the rest of the Intelligence Agency to find out what it was that Roman and the White Fang were up too.

Alexander was the first to suggest that The Breach wasn't something that the enemy had initially planned. It was only done as a last ditch effort after Sanian had attacked their base of operation in Mountain Glenn. However it seemed that Roman's network was difficult to crack, though the man himself seemed to be even harder to break. None of their people actually know since Ironwood was playing political bullshit by citing some Jurisdictional crap, she was a little surprise Alexander didn't just punch a hole into his face.

"Ma'am." Lilly looked up at the sergeant, she shook her head holding up a shattered hard drive. Lilly stood up with the help of the Sisterhood medic and limped over to the other storage devices, shuffling through them, none were salvageable, she picked one up but it fell apart.

"This is fucking bullshit, was there anything else?" The sergeant shook her head, and Lilly ran a hand over her hair. They were back to square one all over again with this lead, what's worse is if Roman's right hand person was actively hunting down the teams that means they're trying to tighten up ship. This meant that something big was afoot.

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later…**

Pyrrha felt like she was in a haze as she stood in the elevator with Alexander, he had seen fit to at least accompany the young girl after the reveal and Ozpin's request. Alexander felt sorry for the girl, he knew that she would struggle with what to do; she was strong both in body and mind.

However just like many young people who lack the experience of age, having your world shaken like that would throw even the strongest for a loop.

"Are you sure there isn't anything you would like to discuss about? I know this is hard but we're still here for you." Alexander said softly, Pyrrha's eyes seemed to refocus and she looked up at him. It hurt; her eyes were that of a child trying to seek comfort in an adult but knew that no matter what, she wasn't going to like what she heard.

"How long have you known?" She asked Alexander closed his eyes thinking back over the years.

"To some degree I've known ever since I've been here dear Pyrrha. The progenitor of the Arc Household knew many things and he once told me that he actually met the old man, from his description I was able to compare the old man to someone else that I knew of, someone who had reached the pinnacle of man's potential so far. While Ozpin's story wasn't wrong there's more than to it than even Ozpin knows. From what I know though is that the Old Man was an incredible warrior with unfathomable power but he's is not even a tiny fraction of power from what he originates from." Alexander seemed to trail off at that, thoughts and memories of times long past surfacing to the forefront of his mind.

Pyrrha looked at Alexander as his face clouded with thought, to her it seemed as though he suddenly feeling the weight of his age and experience, but he snapped out of it.

"Mr. Arc?" He looked down at her again.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that, I was having an old man moment." Alexander said and Pyrrha smiled.

The elevator door finally ringed and opened to the ground floor of Beacon Tower, it was empty. The failing light of dusk seeped through the front doors otherwise the room was illuminated by green glassed lights attached to the wall. Pyrrha once again realized the weight of responsibility that's been asked of her as she stepped out alone from the elevator, Alexander staying inside of it.

Lately it seemed that piece by piece her world was slowly falling apart to reveal a newer, darker one. She wasn't sure if she was truly ready for it. Though in her heart she knew that she would also do what she could to help people, as she looked back at Alexander she couldn't help but remember Jaune also.

If she did what they asked of her, she would no doubt be forced to leave in order to keep the power out of others reach. This meant that she would have to abandon Jaune; she also knew that she wanted to be with him, after such a long time to finally become a couple she was now faced with the decision to abandon him and in a sense abandon her duty to protecting the people as a Huntress.

Or she becomes the obscured guardian of a mythically immense power that represents one of the natural cycles of the seasons though at the same time if she mastered it she could still help people. Even then if Pyrrha did that she would still be heartbroken by her choice and its consequences because she would be alone.

She would lose her life, friends, dreams, and the person closest to her but if what Ozpin said was correct. Then not taking the role could just as well jeopardize everything. Pyrrha wasn't even aware that she had made it back to team JNPR's dorm room until Yang and Blake stopped her.

"Pyrrha? Hey Pyrrrrrhaaa?" Yang asked as she waved her hand in front of the Champion, Yang traded looks with her partner; Pyrrha looked so visibly spaced out that it was kind of worrying. Blake stepped forward and snapped her fingers but she didn't react, Yang just sighed and with her hand chopped down on the top of her head.

"Wa- Wait, what? Oh I'm sorry Blake, Yang, was there something you needed?" She said her demeanor instantly changing back to normal but once more Blake and Yang looked at each other, even to them it looked incredibly fake.

"I asked you if you were excited about the One on One Rounds tomorrow, but you were like totally spaced out." Pyrrha had almost forgotten entirely about the Vytal Festival, now she wasn't really sure if she wanted to go through with it anymore.

"Alright Pyrrha, are you alright?" Blake asked this time, she watched as Pyrrha's face had darkened once more in thought before changing back.

"Oh I'm sorry I was just wondering how tough the competition will be this year." Pyrrha replied her face lighting up as it always did but Blake felt it was forced.

"You bet P-Money, though try not to get eliminated so soon, I still wanna repay you for all those rounds in Combat Class." Pyrrha just smiled and waved as she entered back into her room, the moment she was gone, Yang's face turned serious.

"Something's wrong with her." Yang said in a lower voice as she turned to her partner but all she did was shake her head.

"I'm not sure Yang but we shouldn't pry into it, I'm sure Jaune and the rest of her team can handle it." Yang reluctantly nodded, and turned away but a thought flashed in her mind of a certain blond Faunus.

"Say Blake, how are you and Monkey boy getting along?" Yang asked a wide smile on her face as she looked behind her but Blake had already disappeared, Yang pouted a little before heading back into team RWBY's room.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Alexander sat in his room in Beacon Tower watching the debacle that was Yang Xiao Long's match. Atlas robots were escorting her off the stage, and people were either booing or murmuring about what she just did to the Mercury boy.

Though Alexander found it interesting that he was on the same team as the girl he had Gordon investigate, some part of Alexander thought it was just coincidence but the other part was screaming that not everything was as it seems.

"Well this is going to cause some major ripples." Brin said from his right and Alexander turned in his chair. In the room with him was Brin, the ranking Army Officer in Vale, Sanian the Force Commander of the Sisterhood detachment that Arabella left behind.

Next was Lilly the highest ranking official of the Intelligence Agency. Who had just updated him earlier that morning of the setbacks that the Intelligence Agency was experiencing at the hands of Torchwick's right hand.

Lastly was a new person, he was a little over two and a half meters, wearing a green chest plate with a white skull that had golden wings spreading out from either side. He had a white pauldrons with a green trim around them, on the right side the golden emblem of the Arcs shone brightly, the left one was scratched up to both hide and acknowledge the warrior's past. The rerebraces, couters, vambraces, and gauntlets along with the cuisses, poleyns, greaves and sabatons were all stark white.

In the crook of his arm was a black and white helmet, with a red crest sweeping down the back and a green laurel that wrapped around the helmet just above two black eye pieces. The face plate was utterly smooth and flat under the eyes except for two cables that extended from the side of the face plate where someone's mouth would be, from there they wrapped around to the rest of the helmet.

The man himself was an utterly blank man for the most part, bald with burn marks that covered the left side of his face. A scar that ran from his chin to his right temple that gave him a look as if he had a permanent snarl on his face. Alexander liked the man, he may not be the friendliest at first but he'd warm up enough given time as any other.

"What do you think Ironwood is gonna do?" Lilly asked Alexander looked back at the monitor. The feed had been cut off but as he switched channels almost everyone else was replaying the seconds where Yang turned and punched Mercury in the leg after the match had ended.

"Despite what some may think of the man, he's still looking out for the people's safety and best interests, so he won't punish her too harshly but most likely keep Ms. Xiao Long out of the picture until the Vytal Festival is over." Lilly folded her arms at that.

"Or when he needs her is what you mean?" Alexander shrugged.

"Who knows at this point, I've said it once and I'll say it again, we're running blind on this." Brin spoke up as he took a step closer to look at the loop of Yang's attack.

"Do you think she's compromised?" Alexander gave a questioning look.

"What do you mean by that Brin?"

"Well I was just remembering about my old unit how we had a few insistences were a psyker would either give us false visions or imprint commands that we would, in a normal state of mind, never entertain such as ignoring orders to complete some other objective, or murdering one of our own." Sanian and Lilly were watching Brin as he said that, no doubt they had an idea about what he was talking about, Lilly cupped her chin.

"Brin's right there's a chance that someone was in the crowd influencing Yang and made her attack the boy like that." Alexander stood up and stretched his back before turning around.

"Well in that case, Brin, Lilly go and talk with Yang see if there's anything you can get out of her that could give you a clue to what's going on for sure, Sanian for the time being I suggest you tell the Preceptor to go on standby if something happens we're going to need your numbers to hold down Vale until Brin gets his men deployed to bolster the defense, if what Alistair said is still going on in Forever Fall, that means the Grimm are moving in large numbers and the people of Vale are already on edge as it is if anything else happens we could have a large scale Grimm invasion on our hands. Captain Legrick go to your brothers and prepare them, they'll be the lynchpin in holding Beacon in case the Grimm turn towards us. I've already told Alistair to deploy his team as he sees fit if things start kicking off, now go, we may not have much time."

* * *

 **A few hours later…**

Jaune watched as Pyrrha ran from him, tears streaming down her face, his heart was in a maelstrom of pain, he didn't know what he said that made her go off like that. He struggled to his feet, even with the armor on and aura getting slammed into the wall really did a number on his back, as he stepped forward he was stopped by Anna.

"Can you please move aside Anna, I need to go and talk with Pyrrha." She didn't say anything, Jaune stepped to the side to go around her but she stepped to the side and blocked his path.

"Jaune, I know you mean well for her, but this isn't something you can just go and blindly fumble around until you say the right thing, you're going to have to wait for a better time." She said neutrally, Jaune shot a glare at her but it changed to surprise when he realized that she was wearing her weapon and armor again.

"Look I understand you're worried which is understandable because of your relationship but forcing the issue now isn't going to help especially with her match up." Jaune pulled his head back a little from surprise and pulled out his scroll, the next Singles round was announced, Pyrrha Nikos versus Penny Polendina.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Alexander Arc sat in his room watching as Oobleck and Port announce the next match, Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl versus the Penny Polendina, the new comer from Atlas that was making waves this tournament.

"This should be an interesting match." Gordon said as he stood behind him, Alexander said nothing. As Pyrrha stepped out onto the stage he could see that something was off, she was still distracted about what they had asked of her. She stood to the opposite end of her opponent, who seemed to be at utter ease and was saying something. Though the cameras couldn't pick up the conversation, Alexander figured that based on the few times that she's met the girl that she was just being polite and friendly as always.

What wasn't normal was the evidence that Pyrrha was struggling to maintain her normal emotional control over herself, it was quite clear that something was troubling her, it showed in her fighting as well. The match had started and Pyrrha despite being a very adept fighter, one that given enough time could no doubt be one of the most powerful Huntresses of this century. In this match it seemed she's was having a difficult time, Penny was able to not only keep Pyrrha off balanced with her excellent defense but had an adaptive and fierce attack that pushed Pyrrha's own defenses though she was never able to land a hit also.

As the match progressed Alexander could see that Pyrrha's control was slipping even more, for a brief moment he could see the control of her semblance give way to nearly distorting her weapons.

"She's not doing so well." Gordon said from behind him, Alexander couldn't help but agree, however what happened next sent his heart plummeting. Penny had disarmed the Champion and now had her weapons poised to attack.

Pyrrha however seemed to be panicking more than she should, as the swords flew towards her, she pushed forward, her arms giving a glowed black as the swords were sent hurtling back towards Penny. Alexander could do nothing as he watched the steel wires cut the poor girl into pieces. Instead of the messy pool of blood and guts, he and everyone else watching saw that Penny Polendina was in fact a robot of some sort, Alexander stood up both in surprise and dread.

"Gordon, give the signal." Alexander said, the man bowed slightly and stepped out of the room. Alexander walked over to a large container that he had set at the foot of his bed.

Opening it, he pulled out his helmet; it wasn't his original helmet that he was given a long time ago. He had lost that in the waning hours of the Great Siege. So when he finally had the chance to make a new one he chose to make on in a similar Corinthian fashion helmets that was found in the areas south of the Boeotia nation after the Unification. It was painted bone white with a red plume that reached to the back of the helmet.

The sound of the emergency broadcast started to go off on the screen, Alexander grimaced, if that was playing that meant that something was already happening in Vale, Gordon came back in, his hand was resting on the hilt of his sword.

"My lord, the message has been sent, Preceptor Olivia is dispatching her Commanders out to Vale to intercept Grimm packs that have breached the City lines, and Sanian is already rallying the Sisterhood squads in Vale to help guard vulnerable civilian emergency areas until the police can get them to safety. Captain Legrick reports that he's engaging multiple Beowolf and Ursa packs that are heading for Beacon as we speak so he'll be delayed a little with the bulk of his force though he's sent the Ancient ahead. Captain Alistair is starting up his engines and is deploying as needed to intercept multiple Deathstalker, Taijitus and Goliaths groups. Captain Helen is about forty five minutes out with the Army and Naval contingents." Alexander nodded as he finished strapping on the last of his armor and picked up his glaive.

"What's Lilly doing?"

"She's heading to Amity Colosseum to get Jaune." Alexander grunted at that, he stepped out of his room with Gordon following close behind; they had a school to defend.

* * *

 **Amity Colosseum…**

Lilly watched patiently as the teens beheaded the Nevermore, they were good she'll give them that, but they needed to move, the stench of corruption was sickening. Though what they couldn't see was the sparks of blue flames that seemed to be coming off the dissolving Grimm. Pulling her bolt pistol out, she vaulted the railings and ran towards the teens.

"Aunt Lilly?" Jaune called out as he handed Pyrrha Miló and Akoúo, which she had gratefully taken from him, though her eyes still had the signs of tears and regret from what she did, albeit unintentionally, to Penny.

"Jaune, I'm glad you're okay, but we all need to get out of here." She said as she watched the black smoke of the Nevermore change to a blue haze. She wasn't the only one to notice that, one of the other teens, some sort girl with a beanie on called everyone's attention to it.

Backing away they could see that something was happening, there was a loud screech and they looked up, Grimm circled above them, Sun spoke up.

"Griffons." He said in both awe and anticipations, Coco took a step forward.

"There's something different, they're not attacking, why is that?" She asked as she deployed her weapon in its mini gun form.

"That's why." Jaune said as he raised Crocea Mors and pointed it to the blue haze in front of them, several pink creatures about a meter high with gaping mouths of razor teeth and with one, two, or three arms located on different areas of the body.

They were producing strange sounds that seemed to be echoing and overlapping at the same time that it threw off most of them from concentrating. The only ones that seemed unaffected were Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Lilly, Ruby, Yatsuhashi and Arslan Altan of team ABRN.

Reacting the quickest Pyrrha and Ren both brought up their weapons and immediately started to fire. The rounds tore into the walking monstrosities; each round that hit a daemon was accompanied by clouds of blood exploding from the wounds that left messy torn up flesh that seeped blood.

Lilly added her bolt pistol into the mix the rounds had a much more devastating effect of blowing chucks of matter away as the rounds sunk into the creatures and exploded.

Jaune and Arslan moved to either side; Crocea Mors met the gaping mouth of one of the daemons, the blade slicing through it with relative ease. The top half of the daemon fell forward leaving the lower jaw and body behind, a massive pool of bloods and what seemed to be entrails leaked out from either side.

Arslan's threw a punch that met the first swipe of a daemon that came towards her; the creature's arm came apart at her strength. The momentum of the punch continued and plunged her fist deep between its eyes. Arslan's face contorted into disgust as she pulled her arm back out with a wet pop, the arm was covered in warm blood all the way to her shoulder.

Yatsuhashi knew better than to fight something that he had no clue about so he stood in front of the impaired members of the group as they struggle to control their sense. He held his sword ready to meet anything that made it past the others.

Ruby however didn't really react; she was doing her best not to throw up at the visceral scenes of violence before her. The others who were finally getting a rein on their senses stared dumbfounded at the scene before them, Grimm may be violent but they didn't bleed like living beings. None of them, not even team CFVY have seen such violence and brutality in their short careers so far, Nadir threw up violently in the back with Bolin rubbing his back.

"What. The. Fuck." Sun whispered hoarsely, the others nodded solemnly, the only ones that seemed to be handling it was Jaune, Ren, Nora, Arslan, Pyrrha, and Yatsuhashi. Jaune looked with concern at Ruby who was still staring at the twitching corpses before her.

"Ruby, you gotta snap out of it." Jaune said as he approached her, Neon and Velvet were standing next to her trying to coax her out of her daze as well.

"What's wrong with her?" Flynt asked as he stood next to his partner Neon, Jaune continued to wave his hand in front of her face; Pyrrha slapped Ruby sending her to the floor.

"Snap out of it Ruby Rose, your team needs you." Pyrrha said with a surprising amount of fire in her eyes. Everyone stared in shock at the scene; Ruby shook her head and looked up as she held her cheek.

"Jeez Pyrrha why'd you hit me!?" Pyrrha shrugged, Jaune stepped in between them, he held out his scroll to Ruby.

"Alright that's enough, Ruby call in your weapon, Grimm there's swarming all over the place and it seems someone's summoning Daemons into the city as well, we're going to need every able body person to help defend the city or no one's making it out. We may be students but we still have a duty to help the people of Vale as future Huntsman and Huntresses, if you don't think you're up to it at least help the civilians get out as you run away at least." Jaune said as he swung his sword, blood flying off the blade onto the ground in an arc around him.

A locker came rocketing in embedding itself into the stadium ground, opening up revealed Ruby's Crescent Rose, as she picked up her beloved weapon something reared up from behind the locker. It was a three meter tall conical mass of blue flesh, two tentacles stuck out from the side like squid appendages that ended in strange gaping mouths that opened and closed soundlessly.

At the top was three mouths that were lined up side by side, the one of the left had human teeth lined both the outside and inside of its mouth, the one in the middle had razor teeth and was set agape in an expressionless manner. The mouth on the right was opened and closed repeated like as if it was chewing something violently.

Ruby squeaked in fear as she leapt back and fired her weapon, the round was off center and tore through the fleshy mass of where one appendage was, dark blood spurted from the wound. A strange whine seemed to emit from all the mouths.

Lilly watched as Daemons seemed to appear from nowhere, she raised her bolt pistol ready to fight but she knew that she needed to at least get Jaune and his team out of there. She had no idea how many were going to come at them.

However as more daemons started to appear a loud boom echoed and the creature that Ruby shot had a hole, the size of a dinner plate in the center of it followed by two more shots that cut it in half. Standing to the side was Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck; both had their weapons in hand. Thought it was a bit startling to see that Oobleck had apparently been drinking out of his weapon the whole time.

"Why don't you escort your fellow students of here Mr. Arc? Oobleck and I have a bet to settle between us." Peter said loudly, seemingly uncaring that he was suggesting that the two of them could handle a stadium of daemons alone.

"Alright guys, you heard them, let's move!" Jaune yelled as he pointed towards the exit that Port and Oobleck stood in front of, Lilly however didn't follow them.

"Aunt Lilly?" Jaune called out, she just waved him away.

"Get out of here Jaune, let the adults have some fun now, besides I'm sure Peter and Bart wouldn't mind taking care of a lady." Both men smiled at that before turning their attention back to the daemons in front of them.

Jaune ran through the now empty hallways of Amity Colosseum, though the echoes of people screaming and gunfire could be heard.

"Jaune! Over here!" Pyrrha called out to him as he rounded a corner, it was one of the docking stations on the floating stadium, hundreds of people both students and civilian crowded the ramps yelling to be let onto the Air Buses.

Atlas soldiers were keeping them backing from overcrowding the walkways and potentially falling off the edge while rest stood at the edge of the crowds firing on anything that twitched at their direction. Several dissolving bodies of Grimm lay on the ground, the smell of discharged dust heavy in the air.

The members of teams JNPR, ABRN, SSSN, FNKI and CFVY along with Ruby stood off to the side; Ironwood was also there, a massive revolver in hand. He was on the ramp of an Atlas aircraft with six Atlesian Knights waiting behind him. He met Jaune's eyes and nodded to him before stepping into the craft and leaving, Jaune cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention.

"I think the first order of business is deciding, do we stay here and help the Atlas soldiers protect these people or do we head to Beacon?" Jaune asked and pointed to Beacon which even from where they were could see that had numerous fires raging.

"I think it would be ideal to try and rally at Beacon, there we can establish a point for other students and Huntsman to come and get it together and organize a proper defense." As Jaune said, everyone looked amongst themselves before Ren stepped out.

"I think it's time we took the offensive on this one Jaune." Coco whooped as she held up her handbag, Sun and Neptune joined her. An explosion erupted in the air above them, they all turned to see Ironwood's ship falling, and Ruby ran back towards the stadium arena.

"Ruby!" Jaune called out, but she was already gone before anyone could react, Ren placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder, all he could was sigh in frustration as the rest of them got onto a waiting Bullhead, Jaune moved to the cockpit and opened the door.

"What do you want kid?" One of the pilots asked while the other was listening to a headset.

"I need you to get us to Beacon." The man recoiled a little.

"The fuck is wrong with you kid? We're going to the safe zones that were established in Vale." Jaune cut him off, his voice rising a little in frustration, his hand falling to the handle of Crocea Mors.

"I don't fucking care, we're all Beacon students so we know how to fight, we need to get to Beacon though and help people stuck over there." The man just looked at Jaune for a few seconds before nodding, though Jaune could hear him mutter something about suicidal kids, he smiled at that.

"So what's the plan dude?" Sun was the first to call out to him, Jaune to a careful scan of the Bullhead compartment.

"Well I suppose the best course of action would be to find a good place to defend from, most likely Beacon tower due to its location and close proximity to the landing pads in case we need to retreat, there we'll have anyone with good long range capabilities take the high ground either in the tower or the surrounding areas, this will most likely be Coco, your mini gun will be the key to keep Nevermores from harassing the frontline defenders. From there we'll have the supports that's Pyrrha, Nora, Flynt, Nadir, Neptune your jobs is to help hold the front lines but with the added ability to engage in medium range combat so Coco won't have to divert attention and ammunition, plus it can help lessen the pressure on any front you're on. Now the Frontlines Defenders will be me, Sun, Scarlet, Sage, Fox, Velvet, Yatsuhashi, Arslan, and Bolin, we're going to fight anything that pushes us." Neon raised her hand, confusion etched on her face.

"Uh what about the rest of us?" Jaune smiled and scratched his chin in thought.

"Well I'm thinking that you, Ren, and Reese, can fulfill a fast attack sort of role." All three looked confused, Ren spoke up.

"Jaune we're almost there you should fill us in on what you want us to do." Jaune nodded.

"Well it's like this, I don't want the Grimm to be focusing on the Frontline defenders too much or we'll get overwhelmed, so the three of you can move the fastest, your goal is to attack from the sides and draw their attention away." Ren opened his mouth a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

"Ah so we're going to be doing hit and run tactics?" Jaune nodded at this, Reese and Neon nodded in understanding, there was a burst of static and the man that Jaune was talked to earlier came on.

"Get ready, we're going to be there in thirty seconds, though you may be a little late to the party!" Jaune tilted his head in confusion, anxiety brewed in his stomach, why were they late? Jaune felt a shift and leaned forward to avoid getting tossed towards the front of the Bullhead, the doors opened and Jaune yelled.

"Go! Go! Go!" Pulling Crocea Mors out and jumped out of the Bullhead, Beacon was a mess, masonry was shattered across the courtyard and small arms fire echoed all around them. In the distance he could see a number of flashes of students who decided to stand and fight. The problem was they were fighting multiple foes, Grimm, the White Fang apparently and daemons.

The Grimm for the most part were the easiest to take down but their numbers were slowly growing, the White Fang have seemed too be doing well for the last few months. Jaune could see a number of them carrying around automatic rifles, blades, and shoulder mounted rocket launchers. Though they didn't have the numbers or relative skill as the students, they did instead take shots of opportunity to wreck not only havoc on the school itself but to jump weakened students the moment they finished narrowly winning against Grimm or daemons.

Jaune recognized the daemons, which were claiming the most kills amongst the ragged defense line of students, his aunt Sanian had showed him the footage of Gellar, and they were the servants of the Lord of Blood. Jaune looked around and could see that most of them were at unease at the sight before them, weapons at ready but no one made a move.

Jaune readied Crocea Mors and stepped forward, then started walking quicker and quicker before breaking into a run yelling as he charged at the first Grimm he saw. Pyrrha, Ren and Nora immediately followed after him with their own weapons at the ready. Nora stopped short and three thumps echoed as she sent her pink grenades arcing in the air and exploding among a group of Beowolves.

Ren peeled off to the left, firing StormFlower at a trio of Ursa's that were pinning in a student with her flaming long sword in a corner, jumping onto the first one's back and slicing at the back of the Ursa's head. Jumping from that he landed on the next one and stabbed downwards with the blades of his weapons puncturing the eye sockets. Before emptying his weapons into the face of the last Ursa, though while not enough to kill the creature it gave the student an opening to finish it off by cleaving off its head.

Pyrrha ran forward firing Miló at Beowolf all of her shots hit the same eye killing the beast, before extending it into a javelin and throwing it at another Beowolf behind it, the blade pierced the throat of the creature. Using her semblance she drew it back and spun around bracing her shield to block the swipe of a Beowolf that had tried to get around her. She repeatedly jabbed at it with her javelin, the blade cutting into the black fur and sinking inches into its organs.

Two more Beowolves jumped at her, Pyrrha switched Miló to its Xiphos state and jumped over the first one but she twisted in air to slice at the base of the neck, severing its head. Extending her legs out she used the face of the second Beowolf as a spring board to jump away and throw off its balance before darting in once more and slicing at its exposed neck and spinning on the ball of her feet around it and plunging her blade at the base of its neck.

Jaune met the first Beowolf he saw with his shield crashing into its face sending it stumbling back. He followed up by plunging Crocea Mors right underneath its sternum and pushing down its unarmored belly before hitting the pelvis and pulling the sword out. He would have normally felt elated to be able to take down a Grimm so easily but today it was nothing but a drop in the bucket even for him.

He looked around as the Beowolf fell to the cobble ground dead, everyone else was charging into the melee, except for Coco who was laughing manically from a destroyed support column as she fired into a pack of Grimm Creepers.

The sudden surge of new combatants pushed the Grimm out of the courtyards in front of Beacon. Nora, Neptune, Coco, Reese and Neon chased after them harassing the fleeing Grimm. Students and a few Beacon staff still there cheered, Sun fist bumped Neptune as he ran past whooping. Pyrrha made her way over to him.

"So Fearless leader, still feeling like you don't live up to the name?" She asked a smile wide on her face, Jaune just gave you a pointed glare, and she immediately closed her mouth.

"This isn't over by a long shot, the Grimm is no doubt going to regroup at some point but we've got an even bigger issue to deal with." As if on cue an inhuman roar exploded across the grounds. However it was unlike any Grimm or beast that they have ever heard before.

Jaune narrowed his eyes as he saw standing in the distance a few dozen tall, muscular blood red daemons with twisted horns coming from their elongated skulls, with purple tongues that licked razor teeth. Jaune knew that these were the daemons of the Blood God, they brandished swords and axes that seemed to glow red with infernal heat.

"What the fuck are those things?" Arslan called around as her team rallied around her, Jaune raised his weapons.

"Bloodletters, the lesser daemons of the Blood God, they're strong and masters of combat, do not take them lightly or you will die. Now everyone needs to form up now! Anyone with heavy armor or that prioritizes melee to the fore and line up, anyone with long range based weapons follow Coco of team CFVY!" Jaune yelled out and the students started running around as they looked for where they should be. Jaune turned to Ren who came jogging back with Nora behind him.

"Ren remember what I asked earlier, look for anyone that's highly mobile and instruct them to hit the daemons flanks with hit and run tactics, do not get into prolonged engagements, you will lose on your own." Ren nodded as he moved down the line of students calling out to Reese Chloris and Neon Katt to help him. The occasional whine and ping of small arms fire came at them from White Fang teams; Jaune mostly ignored them and took a spot in the center of the line of nearly thirty strong. Coco and several other students either with various long range weapons from crossbows to single shot grenade launchers stood behind them at elevated spots.

"Jaune!" A familiar voice called out to him, and he looked around for the source of it, Pyrrha tapped his shoulder and pointed to the west, Weiss and Blake had appeared from the direction of the Festival grounds, behind them thirty Atlas robots advanced in a slow staggered line firing at the Bloodletters. The dust rounds tore into the front ranks but the daemons barely even noticed the few rounds hitting them. Though they must have found it annoying either way as another collective roar issued from them, the daemons charged the machines.

Blake and Weiss had reached their line, Jaune had move to meet them. Blake had Gambol Shroud out, taking pot shots at the daemon horde as it clashed with the robots who had drew out blades from their arms to fight.

"Jaune where do you need us?" Weiss asked as she held Myrtenaster in hand, her normally pristine clothes were covered in soot, Jaune nodded and pointed.

"Blake you're with Ren's team he can fill you in on what to do, Weiss stick with Coco's group and provide support wherever you see fit." The two girls nodded but Jaune grabbed Blake's arm before she left, and she turned around with a questioning look.

"Where's Yang?"

"Not really sure last we heard from her was that she was in the main buildings fighting White Fang grunts, I'll go looking for her after we deal with this." Jaune shook his head.

"No we're going to need Yang's strength in this fight so go look for her now." Blake nodded and ran off to look for her partner. Jaune turned back to the daemon pack in front of the student lines; they were finishing off the last of the Atlas Knights, only a few daemons were dead. Jaune could see that some of the students were nervous. The daemons looked back towards the students, snarling and slamming their fists to their chest as if to challenge them.

Jaune calmly walked past everyone making sure to meet the eyes of as many of his fellow students before standing in the middle of the line. Coco and the students with her started to fire, some was aimed to the skies for Nevermores that had started to circle the courtyard. The rest including Coco focused fire on the daemon ranks, the first few seconds of Coco's mini gun ripped one Bloodletter in two the stream of dust round cutting through its waist.

The Bloodletters roared and charged, there was a series of thumps and pink smoke trails of grenades from Nora's Magnhild and a few other students who utilized explosives arced overhead and landed amongst the advancing daemons. The resulting explosions were able to throw a few off their feet, shrapnel and concussion force ripping up their bodies. Jaune raised Crocea Mors and yelled as loud as he could, he didn't have any idea what to say so he settled for just a primal yell.

The students around him yelled as loud as they could and they charged, Jaune continued to yell as the two lines clashed. Jaune met the overhead swing of a Bloodletter with his shield, there was a sound of metal clashing on metal and his arm nearly went numb. Jaune brought his sword up hoping to disarm the Bloodletter by cutting its hand off. However the creature was faster than Jaune and much stronger, meeting his swing halfway, nearly knocking Crocea Mors out of his hand.

The Bloodletters reflexes aside the strength behind it was phenomenal, if Jaune didn't act quick enough he knew that it was going to kill him. In the blink of an eye the daemon twisted its wrist and swung upwards towards Jaune's exposed right side.

Jaune couldn't block it in time so instead he jumped forward. Aiming for the reversed jointed knees he punched the side of it with the edge of his shield, it felt like hitting a brick wall painful vibrations travelled up his arm but luckily the damage was there. The knee bent to the side, though the daemon barely seemed to care as it reversed its sword to stab down at Jaune.

Kneeling from his dive, he rolled again to avoid the blade but it caught the edge of his shield with its other hand but Jaune took that opportunity to slice down at the daemon's wrist. Crocea Mors bite into the thick wrist though it felt like hitting a block of wood, the blade stopped halfway, Jaune applied pressure and slide the blade back cutting the wrist more. The hand released his shield and he stumbled back, the daemon turned to face him again.

Jaune fumbled as he tried to get up again, raising his shield barely in time to meet the thrust of the daemon's sword. Jaune faintly recalled the many lessons that Pyrrha taught him at that moment to angle the shield to let the blade slide of the shield instead of trying to meet it head on. This would not only save him the pain of taking the hit but possibly give him the opening to strike back at the same time. As Jaune used his shield to force away the blade as far as he could, his stabbed Crocea Mors up right where the heart would be, the blade bit home sliding deep into the daemon's chest.

It didn't kill the creature, it looked down at Jaune and he could both feel and see the burning hatred in its yellow eyes. Jaune struggled to pull his blade out the Bloodletter had gripped the blade with its free hand in an effort to trap him. It's hellish blade rose again and the tip soared at him, he was barely able to deflect it again with his shield, his arm was numb from the force he needed to act.

Raising one foot again Jaune stamped down on the broken knee from before. The blow bent the knee even farther, without the support the Bloodletter could do nothing but fall; Jaune raised his foot again and kicked against its body. This was enough to free his sword but also to nearly cut the fingers off its hand completely. The sword came at him again at a downward angle, Jaune angled his shield again but this time the daemon had hit him with the flat of its blade.

The blow sent Jaune to his knees; he could barely feel his arm, the blade struck again and again. Jaune's arm shook from the effort of keeping his shield up. He had to put an end to this, there was another bash, pain jolted up his arm, he yelled. Faintly he thought he could hear someone shout his name but he ignored it, as the blade rose up he dove once more at the daemon and aimed his sword at its snarling face. He didn't miss, the tip of Crocea Mors bit into its skull right in the center, he pushed the sword down, the blade slowly cut through the bone of its face until it cleaved the lower jaw in two.

Jaune didn't have time to breathe however he finally remembered that he was still in the middle of a battle in Beacon's courtyard against a pack of Bloodletters. He turned to see that generally speaking the students of Beacon were faring well, Yatsuhashi was trying to match a Bloodletter in strength and locked his blade with it but he could see the silent giant struggling to keep it back.

Fox and Velvet jumped from either side of him, Velvet kicked the Bloodletter in the face the blow that would have been effective against even Grimm did nothing to it besides distract it a little. However that was the idea as Fox's orange tonfa's cut deep across its eyes, blinding it, the daemon howled in pain.

The pressure against the giant of Team CFVY lessened enough that that he was able to turn aside its blade. He followed with an upwards blow that separated its sword arm and a portion of its chest from the rest of its body.

Jaune turned in time to see a bloody great axe soar at him, he dove to the side as the axe head buried into the ground but there was no daemon with it. Looking at where had come from, he could see Nora panting as she drove the head of Magnhild down at a Bloodletter's chest over and over again. The torso was unrecognizable beyond of pile of broken bones and destroyed flesh.

Jaune looked around again and saw Pyrrha fighting against two Bloodletters at once, there was a girl lying on the floor clutching her stomach. Jaune could see her Beacon uniform was dark around the midsection, that's when it occurred to him that she didn't have any aura left and had taken a wound across the stomach.

Pyrrha blocked a blade with Akoúo, letting the infernal blade slide across the surface of her shield as she brought up Miló in its Xiphos form stabbing straight through its wrist. She didn't wait to see the results as she pulled the blade out and rolled to the side to avoid the second daemon's blade; quickly changing Milo into its rifle form she fired several shots at it. The rounds carved into its body but did nothing to slow it down; it charged her, drawing back its sword arm for an overhead strike.

Pyrrha ran towards it changing Miló from Xiphos to its javelin form, she flung her shield as hard as she could. The bronze shield spun towards the Bloodletter and embedded itself into the daemon's shoulder; a black outline engulfed her raised arm as she drew Akoúo back to her. Blood spurted from the now open wound; she could feel warm blood splash her face a little as the shield returned to her. As she caught Akoúo she threw Miló at the same time, the javelin with the assisted boost of its inbuilt firearm punched through the daemon's skull.

She ran forward and leapt on top of the dead daemon, grabbing Miló, there was a dull clang of metal on metal and Pyrrha turned around to see Jaune standing with his shield up blocking the Bloodletter's sword. Nora came screaming from behind the daemon swinging Magnhild down, a second later a crack emitted from the hammer as it struck the daemon's skull. Jaune stepped to the side as the daemon fell over and swung Crocea Mors cutting the daemons head clean off.

All around them the students of Beacon congregated around the last few daemons, quickly and efficiently wearing them down. However they didn't come out unscathed, Sun was carrying a pale limping Neptune; blood was oozing out of a stab wound on his leg. Pyrrha could see white of bone from where she stood as Scarlet David and Sage Ayana rushed over with bandages to help their injured teammate.

Velvet was sitting on the ground with a blonde second year girl whispering in her ear as she cried in pain, her arm was bent backwards in at a ninety degree angle from a compound fracture. Coco and Yatsuhashi kneeled nearby trying to fix the arm and bind it up.

Ren and Arslan with the help of several more students were moving the lifeless bodies of almost ten other students into a row, Fox walked around with white sheets, carefully placing them onto the bodies.

"I feel sorry for the others." Jaune spoke up, Pyrrha and Nora looked at him, he wasn't staring at the students or the bodies but looked out towards Vale. They could see the occasion flash of explosions, as a breeze rolled in from the water, the sound of small arms fire echoed as the city burned.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Blake rolled off her back and crawled across the floor over shattered glass reaching for her weapon, but a black shoe kicked Gambol Shroud out of her reach. Adam Taurus kneeled down next to her and ran the back of one gloved hand over Blake's cheek; she flinched away from his touch. He grabbed her hair and yanked her head up so that she would look at him.

"Oh how've I missed you my love, it hurt me a lot when you left me on that train."

"You were going to kill those innocent people, I had to leave you." He clicked his tongue.

"But I did that for the cause, our people deserve justice for what those Humans have done to us." Blake tried to crawl away but Adam grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer.

"I did it for you; can't you see that I'm trying to bring justice to the world." Blake yanked her hand out of his grip.

"By killing people!? Please Adam that's never going to win them over to us; it's just going to deepen the divide." Adam sighed as if he was listening to a child's argument.

"This is where we always disagreed on, you're just trying to be seen as equals, you want to be like them, I never wanted to be seen as just an equal, I want Humanity to acknowledge that the Faunus are better than them as they take their dying breath." Adam said solemnly as if what he was saying was the only option, Blake felt a small part of her heart break to see her former partner speaking in such a manner.

"What about the Arcs? They've helped the Faunus in the Great War and the Faunus Rights Revolution." Adam snorted.

"The Arcs? They're arrogant fools who think they know what's best for everyone, watching them fall will be almost as sweet as watching those Schnees die, so watch as I destroy this false world around you my love, when I'm done you'll come back to me thankful for what I've done for you."

"Blaaaake! Where are you!?" A familiar voice called out, Blake felt fear flood her body, Adam smiled as he saw the look of fear flood across his beloved's face, and he turned around and saw a blond girl with golden gauntlets watching them in horror.

"This false world will crumble around you Blake and I'm the instrument of its destruction, and your salvation will start with her." He said as he pointed Wilt at Yang before turning around and swiftly stabbing Blake in the side, a fatal wound if left untreated for a long time.

Yang watched this all happen and a rage of which she had never felt before bubbled up from inside of her. Her semblance exploded into life, sending loose glass and debris around her flying. With a blast of Ember Celica she leapt at the man who hurt her friend.

Blake looked up in horror as her partner and former partner were about to clash. However she knew who would come out on top, her strength to warn Yang was robbed from her as she watched Adam fall into his Iaijutsu stance, Yang closed in she could see her glowing brightly and his blade flashed once.

Blake watched her partner's expression change from rage, to confusion and lastly horror in a matter of seconds as her right arm separated at the elbow. By the time she landed next to Blake, Yang had already passed out; Blake crawled over to her and immediately took off her bow to use it as a tourniquet around her arm. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at her friend, she had gone deathly pale. Adam walked up and raised Wilt once more in order to finish Yang off.

However he jumped back and Blake turned to see a throwing knife embedded into the ground where he had once stood. Looking at the direction it came from she saw Anna Vermillion standing on a table, two slim throwing knives in her left hand and her sword in her right.

"Who would have thought that the infamous Adam Taurus was a psychotic abusive cunt?" Anna said a playful tone in her voice as she stepped down.

"A lapdog of the Arcs? I'm surprised your cowardly masters even let you here, they hide from the world for decades and now except everyone to show respect for nothing." Adam said as he circled around Anna matched him, Adam raised Blush and fired, the shot pinged off Anna's armor. She dove forward throwing the two knives in her hand. Adam knocked them of the air with ease and brought Wilt down to meet Anna's blade there was a brief flash of sparks and the blades locked with each other.

"Is that all you have?" He asked, Anna grinned as she stomped her right foot and a blade extended from her sabaton and kicked at him. Adam pushed away dodging the foot but caught a blow to the chest as Anna lunged with her blade. There was a flash of red aura on his chest from the strike but the blade didn't penetrate, Adam growled in annoyance and the two charged each other again.

Adam rolled into Anna's first swing, Wilt flashed as it grazed the side of her chest plate, a visible scratch of where the tip of the blade met her black breastplate could be seen, and even with the mask on Adam looked surprised.

"Fighting me without even having your aura unlocked, that's an interesting move." He didn't wait for the response as he raised Blush again and fired before he dashed forward swinging Wilt in an overhead arc but stopped halfway to reserve the blade and stab down. Anna knocked the blade aside before reversing her own blade and swiped at his chest.

He ducked the blade and with a flash of red Wilt cut a furrow across her breast plate again but failed to go through, Anna slammed the pommel of her sword into Adam's face, once more his aura flashed protecting him. They broke apart and took a few steps back, Blake watched, surprised that Anna had no aura but she had no confidence that bodyguard was going to win. Already Adam had come close twice to breaking her armor and hitting her while she had yet to break his aura.

Anna sprinted forward; Blake could see another blade appear in her left hand she threw it and immediately slid on the floor. Adam knocked the blade out of the air and raised Blush in left hand firing point blank in her chest but the round simply shattered on her chest plate as Anna tackled Adam to the floor.

He drew back Wilt to strike but she grasped the lapel of his coat and head butted him, tucking his knees in he kicked her off him, getting back up. Anna however had recovered first and swung her blade into his back, once more his Aura flashed protecting him but she didn't let up ducking a return swing from Wilt and sidestepping his immediate attempt to run her through with his blade, Anna lunged at him, the tip of her blade bounced again from his aura again.

Blake winced once more at the futile attempt; she was putting up a fight more than Blake had against Adam. True to her feeling Blake watched as Anna ducked and sidestepped two more of Adam's lightning strikes but as she sidestepped the second on Adam fired Blush into her knee.

While the round didn't penetrate the armor it was enough to send her stumbling forward, giving Adam the opportunity to strike once more. Anna cursed as she saw the flash of red and a searing pain across her chest, a furrow trailed across her abdomen. This one however had gone through scoring the skin underneath, she could feel the warmth of blood trailing from the laceration but she ignored it, losing focus could cost her life now.

Adam nodded, as if satisfied by the result, taking his stance once more he dashed forward, Wilt flashed as it came straight for her head. She dropped completely to the floor and kicked her legs out, Adam jumped over them but felt an impact on his back. He looked down seeing another throwing knife lying on the floor.

Anna was already on her feet swinging her blade down, Adam moved to the side and kicked her in the chest sending her flying onto her back. As she rose up from where she landed a thunderous impact from a dust round planted her back onto the floor.

She could feel that her armor barely saved her from the impact. Adam had aimed for the cut he had made earlier hoping to use it as a weak point to penetrate the armor. However the dust round had bounced off only bending the edges inwards, though they now were pressing against her wound.

There was a roar that echoed from outside and Adam turned his head at the direction, he frowned for a moment. Anna struggled to her feet once more and held her sword ready but Adam ignored her and started to silently walk away. Anna wanted to go after him but she remembered that Blake and Yang were still there and both needed medical treatment.

* * *

 **Beacon Courtyard…**

Jaune pulled his sword out of a Beowolf, after facing down the pack of Bloodletter's the Grimm had started to return. Thankfully the students had been able to hold out, though most of them no longer had any ammunition, Coco had resorted to bashing skulls with her bag. Jaune never could take it serious even if he knew that Coco would use him as a mop to clean the floor with.

"Jaune, something's happening." Ren's voice snapped him out of his thoughts; he looked at what Ren was pointing at. A few more of the Atlas Knights had joined them, but now they seemed to be twitching in their spots.

"What the?" Jaune never finished that statement; the Atlas robot behind him turned its weapon and shot him in the back, despite the aura and hunk of metal the blast hurt, a lot. Ren whirled around and decapitated its head in a shower of sparks. All around them the Atlas robots turned on them, a few of the wounded students that were supposed to be guarded by the Knights took blasts that left smoking craters in their unprotected chest.

"Weiss what the fuck!?" Sun yelled out as he smashed the face of a robot, Weiss just gaped wordlessly and stood there. The remaining students immediately set out to eliminate the remaining robots around them; Jaune turned to Pyrrha but noticed that she wasn't standing next to him anymore. Panic gripped his heart as he looked around for her, he spotted familiar brilliant red hair and saw Pyrrha facing Beacon Tower, he jogged over to her but she had already moved towards it.

"Pyrrha!?" He called out, and noticed that Ozpin was also standing at the base of the tower; several dissolving bodies of Grimm lay before him. Jaune blinked at that, he didn't even notice him there or the fighting.

"Jaune?! Where are you going?!" Ren called out as he chased after Pyrrha.

"I'm going with Pyrrha just hold the courtyard and docking bays!" Jaune called out, Ren just nodded he had fate in what his leader was doing. Jaune ran until he finally caught up to Pyrrha and Ozpin, Pyrrha gave him a strained smile.

"If you insist Mr. Arc please step into the elevator." Ozpin said Jaune nodded sheathing his sword, he stepping into the elevator he looking at Ozpin and Pyrrha expecting an explanation. They didn't give any and Jaune realized that they weren't going up as he looked up at the display.

"We're going down?" Jaune asked.

"In due time Mr. Arc." Ozpin said simply, Pyrrha just looked at the floor unable or unwilling to look him in the eyes, Jaune frowned. Soon enough the doors opened to reveal a large cool hallway, in the distance Jaune could make out what looked to be two pods hooked to a machine. What looked to be green fire illuminated the room, something felt strange about this place that set Jaune's hair on edge.

"What is this place?" Jaune asked as they walked, their steps echoing loudly.

"Are you ready Ms. Nikos?" Ozpin said once more ignoring Jaune; she nodded and walked towards the empty pod on the right, Jaune notice the woman in the left one.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what's going on? Why is Pyrrha going into that thing and who the fuck is she?" Jaune asked pointing to the conscious woman, in a rare instance of expression, annoyance flashed across Ozpin's face.

"Do you trust your partner Mr. Arc?"

"With my life." He replied instantly, Pyrrha smiled at that, though she felt remorseful almost immediately as she realized what she was about to do.

"Then watch the door." Ozpin said curtly before turning to Pyrrha.

"Are you ready?" She nodded, and laid down into the pod, the cover slide down over it, it hissed as the door locked into place.

"I'm sorry." Ozpin said as he activated the machine, Pyrrha could feel something warm seeping into her but as the seconds went by that warmth turned to an agonizing heat, and it felt like as if it was only getting hotter.

She heard screaming, and it took a moment to realize that she was the one screaming, there was flashes of scenes like memories in front of her eyes. However she realized that none of them were things she had ever seen; there were men and women in it as well that she's never met. If these weren't hers would that mean she was getting Amber's memory, she wasn't sure.

Before she knew it she stood in a large room, all around her were hundreds if not thousands of flags that seemed to stretch a good mile behind her. She turned around and saw a pair of large golden doors that towered over her; even she could tell that the door was made by master craftsmen. Carved into the door was the image of what looked to be a man standing in armor kind of like Alexander's. He was standing victorious over what appeared to be both human and alien.

Someone called out to her, it was a powerful voice, seemingly compelling yet comforting at the same time. Though to her it left a little strained, as if whoever spoke was under a great deal of pressure, she walked towards the gate, as she got closer it opened up. It seemed almost impossible that something so big should move like that, in the corner of her eye she noticed a strange machine almost as big as the gate standing like a silent observer. She turned her head to the other side and saw another machine, they kind of looked like the Atlas Robots, but they were much bigger and deadlier.

The Voice called out to her again, she obeyed stepping through the doors she was greeted by a blinding light. While she couldn't see, she could feel the warmth from it; it seemed familiar yet distant at the same time.

The light seemed to have a presence that made her think of strength and conviction, like a person who's realized their life goal and was willing do anything to achieve it. It also carried with it age and wisdom, like someone who's seen and done more than humanly possible, knowing secrets that no one else could or would ever know. It was human and inhuman at the same time; it was starting to become difficult to think, she could barely remember her own name at that point, she stepped towards the light.

As Pyrrha started screaming in the pod, Jaune twirled around golden energy passed from the woman towards Pyrrha, but Ozpin held a hand up to stop him.

"Do not move Mr. Arc, Ms. Nikos knows what she signed up for, this must be done."

"Fuck that, can't you see she's in pain."

"I can see that Mr. Arc, if you want to help, watch the door." Ozpin said, Jaune shook his head in disgust and at that moment he froze. He could hear the telltale sign of something being pulled; he grabbed Crocea Mors and expanded his shield as he spun around.

He could see a woman in a red dress holding what looked to be a bow, an arrow was passing by, and he didn't know what to do to stop it. As it sped towards the other girl's pod a black sword smashed it out of the air, Gordon stood next to the pod with his sword drawn.

"Stay back Master Arc." Gordon said as he readied his sword.

The woman by the elevator frowned and ran towards them, Gordon ran past Jaune, he watched as the Woman let loose another arrow but Gordon smashed it aside. The woman's bow glowed and disappeared with two serrated short swords taking its place. The blades clashed in a shower of sparks, Jaune watched in awe as Gordon traded blows with woman, but the longer the two clashed the more Jaune realized that Gordon was being pushed back.

Gordon blocked one blade and stepped back from the other. She jumped back as he did that and her weapons glowed and fragmented before coming back into the form of a bow. She drew and released an arrow at the pod again Gordon shattered it out of the air as it passed him, the moment he did that she launched an arrow at him. The black arrow broke through his chest plate right in the center. He swung his sword shattering the third arrow, showering him in a cloud of fragments.

However the woman had changed from her bow to dual swords again and had closed the gap.. He blocked the first few strikes but he was slowing down, the arrow had clipped his lung. He needed to even the odds, twisting his sword around he forced one of the black swords out of her hands, sending it skittering away, she smiled, he looked down and saw a ball of fire floating in her palm, she slammed her palm into his chest.

"Gordon!" Jaune yelled as he watched as he watched the two disappear in a fiery explosion, Jaune stepped forward with Crocea Mors drawn towards the smoking section. There was a snap and an arrow narrowly passed his face, impacting with a resounding crack behind him. Jaune turned and saw the mysterious woman eyes wide in both horror and pain close her eyes, before her head listed to the side. The process that was happening stopped, the glowing energy that had been drifting towards Pyrrha changed direction towards the red dress woman who was now floating, arms wide as if she was embracing an old lover.

Jaune could see Gordon lying on the floor, his face was burned beyond recognition, and portions of his armor were fused into slag by the intense heat of the blast. Ozpin with his cane in hand stepped in front of Jaune, Pyrrha realizing what was happening used her semblance to break open the door. Pyrrha and Jaune stood next to Ozpin with their weapons ready but he held his cane in front of them.

"No, you need to get out of here and get help, contact Glynda or Ironwood, tell them what's happening." Ozpin said stopping Pyrrha from attacking the woman with his cane.

"But we can help you!" Pyrrha said but Ozpin shook his head.

"No you can't, I'll handle her." Ozpin said, the woman smirked at them, her eyes afire with the new found power that she had apparently gotten, she raised her hands and two flames emerged in her palms.

"Go!" Ozpin yelled, and both teens simply ran, making sure to skirt as far away as they could from the woman she paid no attention to them as she stared down Ozpin. Jaune made it inside the elevator hitting the button for them to return to the surface, Pyrrha stood next to him panting still recovering from the ordeal of the machine. As the doors closed they watched as Ozpin and the woman watched each other silently.

The sound of fighting could be felt as the elevator travelled up, Jaune rested his head against the cool metal of the elevator, Gordon died in front of him and he didn't do anything. He clenched his hand and slammed it against the wall; Pyrrha grabbed his arm before he could strike it again. She hugged him, and he returned the embrace taking a deep breath.

The elevator opened and the two teens ran out of the deserted lobby of Beacon Tower, as they got outside they could see the burning wreck of an Atlas ship fall in the distance. Nevermore and Griffons circled the sky, but there was something else, a giant beast soared through the air.

"What is that thing?" Jaune asked as they watched it soar towards the Beacon, the smaller Nevermores and Griffons trailing behind it. Behind them they hear a strange sound, peering back into the lobby they could see the woman from before using her powers to travel up the elevator shaft.

"Shit, Ozpin's gone." Jaune whispered, disbelief plain in his voice, Pyrrha looked at the top of Beacon Tower, and stepped forward. Jaune grabbed her hand, and she looked back at him in surprise.

"Jaune, I need to do this." She said softly turning away once more unable to look him in the eyes, he stepped close to her wrapping his other hand around her hand, in part to restrain her and just to hold her.

"No, you don't Pyrrha; please you can't beat her Pyrrha not alone at least." Her eyes opened in surprise and she looked up at him, knowing for well what he was saying.

"No Jaune you can't come with me."

"Then I won't let you go." He was cut off as Pyrrha kissed him, it was a wonderful kiss, and Jaune could practically feel the warmth and passion in it. He leaned back into it, and wrapped his arms around her waist, she pressed her body against his as if she was trying to become one with him. That's when she pushed him back, using her semblance, into a rocket propelled locker that was embedded in the ground behind him.

"No, no, no, no, no, No, NO! Pyrrha stop! Don't do this!" Jaune yelled as she started to punch coordinates into the digital pad lock. He knew there was no way to stop her, he struggled to pull Crocea Mors out of its sheath, the locker started to launch, and he looked at her. She smiled warmly at him, the unmistakable look of love and regret in her brilliant green eyes, tears slowly fell from them.

"I love you Jaune Arc." She said before turning away from him and walking into the tower.

"PYRRHA!" Jaune yelled as loud as he could, he finally freed the blade, he angled it at the bottom hinge and slammed the tip of the blade at it, the blade cut half an inch, he did it again, and again, the fourth strike the sword went clean through the hinge. He looked out; he was nearly out of Beacon he needed to act fast.

He raised his legs, bracing himself against the back and started to push, at first he didn't think it was going to work but he continued to push until he heard the sound of metal straining. With a pop the last hinge gave way, and Jaune fell out of the locker, what he failed to take into account was the fact that he was traveling at a high speed, a couple stories off the ground. He looked in front of him and saw that he was going to land around the docking bays; he closed his eyes and landed, darkness took him.

Ren watched with mortification as he saw his team leader and friend come crashing into the ground; his body was covered in white light as his aura flared to protect him. Most of the people saw him and cried out in horror at seeing the young blond leader crash. Ren, Nora, Weiss, and a myriad of others ran towards him.

Ren knelt next to him, pulling out his scroll he looked at Jaune's aura, there was barely a tenth of it left, and he also noticed that Pyrrha's was slowly going down. Jaune opened his eyes and started yelling in both pain and surprise, Ren and Nora gripped his hands as he woke up.

"Fuck Jaune, you really need a new landing strategy." Sun called out as everyone looked a little more relieved that he was fine. Ren narrowed his eyes as he took a look at Jaune's face; he looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Jaune stood up on shaky legs, Ren and Nora both still holding his arms helped steady him, he looked around for Crocea Mors, spotting it embedded into the cobble path, forty feet away. Jaune walked towards it, and with some effort was able to pull the sword out from the ground. As he moved his sword arm around to loosen it up, he realized that no one was fighting; there wasn't even a picket line to engage any Grimm or Daemons that would attack the air docks. He looked back down the main avenue towards Beacon and saw why his peers are just resting.

Guarding them was a massive machine, standing at nearly four meters high, three and a half meters wide painted dark purple similar to Saul's, exhaust pipes extended from the back billowing smoke as it stood facing towards Beacon. On the right side Jaune could see what looked to be a six barreled rotatory weapon like Coco's mini gun. On the left was a mechanical arm that had an articulated four finger hand that crackled as electricity danced across it.

"The Bloodletters pushed us off our spot from Beacon Tower, they probably would have finished us off if that thing hadn't come and saved us but what is it?" Ren said as he caught up to his team leader, Jaune stared in awe.

"One of the Ancients." Jaune whispered.

"Ah an Arc is here then." The machine spoke; a deep resonating voice that had the slight hum of static that colored the undertone of its words, everyone behind Jaune took a step back with their hands falling to their weapons. With the apparent betrayal of the Atlas Robots, none of them were keen on facing this machine.

"Yes my name if Jaune Arc, son of Alexander Arc, High Lord of Arcadia." There was a strange noise that emitted from it and Jaune had the sneaking suspicion that it was laughing.

"So that old man still is alive, glad to hear, well Jaune Arc, I've been in contact with my brothers and they will commence their assault to retake Beacon in a matter of minutes, from there we'll have the school back in our hands in roughly an hour." The Ancient spoke, most of the students present that heard it cheered in response to the news, however there was still a few that had other concerns on their minds, Ren stepped forward.

"What about that Grimm?" Ren asked as he pointed to the sky, the Grimm beast flew in a circle over the water. As he spoke there were six streaks of bright lights that trailed white exhaust that sped towards it, the resulting explosions covered the beast in flames. However it wasn't truly hurt, they could barely make out the dissolving forms of Griffons and Nevermores falling from the sky, who had taken the brunt of the attack.

The roars of engines could see heard as what appeared to be half a dozen fast moving aircraft sped past the Grimm. Jaune recognized them as Lightning's flying around the creature, if they're here that meant a naval vessel was closing in. This also meant that his father had probably brought Arcadian troops to come to their aid.

Jaune heard a beep on his scroll and pulled it out, it was the aura tracker of his team, Pyrrha's had dropped to an orange color which meant that she had passed the fifty percent mark.

"Wait a minute, Jaune, where's Pyrrha?" Nora turned to him fear evident on her face, Jaune couldn't meet her eyes and looked towards Beacon Tower.

"Pyrrha went after someone who killed Ozpin, she's strong and has incredible powers, she put me in that locker to keep me from either stopping her or going with her, so I'm going back." Jaune said turning around and started to jog towards Beacon, Nora made to go after her but stopped short as her legs locked up. She was exhausted the only reason why she didn't fall was because Ren had grabbed her, she smiled gratefully at him.

"Where's Jaune going?" Ruby called out as she joined them, she had been attending to her sister and had missed the general clamor of Jaune's unexpected arrival, Sun nodded at the receding figure of the blond.

"The crazy bastard is going back into Beacon Tower, something about Pyrrha fighting some chick in Ozpin's office." As they said that there was a gust of wind powerful enough to force them a few steps back. The Grimm beast passed overhead, issuing an ear-piercing roar that shook them to the core, and it was heading towards Beacon Tower.

The Ancient looked up from his sarcophagus as the Grimm flew over; tracers stitched the air after it from the Lightning's main cannons, though he could tell that the auto cannon rounds would do nothing to the creature.

Jaune Arc ran past him heading towards Beacon. The young man had a fire to him that reminded him of the days of old, someone was calling out to him from behind, he was vaguely aware of the person calling to him as a friend of the Young Arc.

"What is it little one?" The Vox speaker blared from the purple carapace, Ren pointed at the receding figure of Jaune running.

"Can you go my Team Leader and help him?" Ah so the young man was worried about him, that made sense. The bonds forged in fire are often the strongest that one can form with another though they're also the ones that hurt the most if broken but he couldn't fulfill the young man's request.

"I cannot do that, I was charged with the duty to protect all of you and to keep the Air Docks open for additional reinforcements." He didn't need to look to know that the young man was not satisfied by that answer; however his approval wasn't his concern.

"Can't you radio for help, you said that there were others coming." The young man asked him but the whine of his assault cannon spinning drowned out anything else he had to say. A cone of fire erupted from the barrels sending a steam of heavy caliber rounds towards a cluster of Ursa Majors that had formed off to their right. The torrent of fire ripped into the bone cladded black bodies of the Grimm, after thirty seconds the loud roar of the weapon stopped and the Grimm lay torn to bits, chunks of their bodies were strewn about slowly melting away.

Ruby turned to Weiss who was standing with her over their wounded teammates; she had seen Jaune run off back towards Beacon Tower.

"We should go after him." Weiss looked at her partner, determination radiated from her; no doubt she wanted to do something after seeing her sister and friend in such a state.

"Alright but how are we going to get up to Ozpin's office? I'd imagine that the elevators are destroyed by now in this mess." Ruby grinned as she readied Crescent Rose.

"Remember initiation?" She asked and Weiss tilted her head a little confused as she readied Myrtenaster, than it dawned on her, a smile splitting her face. However someone shouted a warning and they turned to see the blood red forms of Bloodletters lining up further down the avenue.

The hulking purple machine was advancing towards them slowly; each footfall was a booming impact that cracked the cobble stone. Its six barreled weapon spun at a blinding speed as dozens of shell casings that size of Ruby's forearm. The barrage of heavy caliber rounds tore apart cluster of seven Bloodletters that stood directly in front of the Ancient.

There was a brief pause of fire though the weapon was still cycling. The machine rotated slightly to the right and then fanned left letting loose another stream of fire.

While a few heavy caliber rounds did nothing to affect the servants of the Blood God, the fast rate of fire the Ancient's rotary weapon was putting a little more than fifteen hundred rounds a minute. However more daemons started to appear at the tree lines, some of them were a little larger than the others and were adorned in necklaces of skulls. The Ancient stopped, beginning to slowly spin back and forth racking the lines of daemons, within moments they charged.

The students and few Atlas soldiers on the docking pads saw this and immediately launched into action. Moving the wounded as far back as they could while lining up with their weapons held at ready to meet the charging mass of daemons. Though there wasn't a single person that didn't feel fear washing over them, while the daemons didn't seem to have the numbers of even a small Grimm horde, they matched or even surpassed them in lethality.

They watched as the hulking machine met the first strike of a Bloodletter with its crackling fist, there was an explosion of blue energy as the Ancient's fist battered aside the axe of the daemon. The rotary weapon spun up with a loud whine and riddled the creature point blank, its red torso coming apart in a shower of blood.

The machine rotated at an incredible speed and the Ancient's fist backhanded a second daemon, its skull shattering. However it wasn't done spinning, the Ancient's fist continued to sail through the air sending another daemon flying back as it connected with its blade only for it to slam into another two daemons.

In the distance the loud reports of gunfire echoed started up within Beacon, the roars of both Daemons and Grimm could be heard. Though there was something else out there, the loud reverberations of heavy footfalls could be felt in the ground.

Ren stood in the middle of the front line of students, side by side with Nora as she held up Magnhild, she grinned at him though he could see the exhaustion in her face despite the smile. Looking around he could see the fires of Beacon and Vale in the distance. For a second there was a flash of a similar scene of destruction that he had witnessed a long time ago, he frowned at that, now wasn't the time to dwell on the past.

"Ren." The uncharacteristically soft sound of his best friend voice drew his attention once more.

"Yes Nora?"

"Do you think he'll make it in time?" Ren knew who she was talking about, earlier they had seen an explosion happen at the top of Beacon Tower, and their scrolls had started to fail but the last thing he saw was Pyrrha's aura meter saying that her aura was in the single digits.

"He'll make it."

* * *

 **Outside Beacon Tower…**

Jaune looked up at the tower as another explosion rocked it from the top; he knew that it meant that Pyrrha was still alive up there. The first thing he had checked was too see if there was a chance to use the elevators, obviously there was no luck there, the cables were destroyed. Taking the stairs was also not a part of the options, even if they were clear it would take far too long to get up to Ozpin's office. There was a series of explosions off to his right, Jaune turned and saw something that he'll never forget for as long as he lives.

Striding through fire was almost three dozen figures, each roughly two and a half meters tall or more. They all wore armor in similar fashion to Saul or his dad; a third of them had green chest plates with white limbs that had a green trim around their pauldrons. Others wore red armor from the waist up with white legs except for a single red poleyn. The rest wore almost all black armor except for bone white pauldrons that had a black trim around it and a white skull that had white wings extending from either side of it.

The lead wore the green and white armor but on his head was a slightly different helmet. It was a black and white helmet, with a red crest sweeping down the back indicating he was their leader. He held aloft a large sword the width of it easily twice of Crocea Mors, and twice the length. Just like the Ancient's hand from before, the warrior's sword was tinged blue by same sort of energy.

A few Beowolves and Ursa stood before them, the lead figure pointed his sword towards them and several warriors turned their bolters and fired, the bolt rounds tore apart the Grimm. There was a rumbling sound and behind the warriors came three Predator tanks, Jaune saw one swivel its cannon in his direction. There was a flash and a hot white orb flew overhead, he could feel the change of air pressure push down on him.

There was another flash followed by sound, heat and pressure from behind Jaune sending him stumbling forward right into something metal. Groaning as he pushed himself up, he looked at what he had landed against and inspiration dawned on him. He looked up Beacon's Tower, gripping Crocea Mors, he needed to get Pyrrha out of there as soon as possible he only hoped that he still had time.

* * *

 **Vale…**

Qrow stood atop the corpse of another Bloodletter pulling his sword out of its head, behind him three dozen warriors of the Sisterhood along with a few Beacon students. They were being led by a tall boy with burnt orange hair that had a silver-grey armor with a golden trim.

Along with that were numerous members of the Vale Police Department adorned in full riot gear, though instead of tear gas and riot guns they were armed with automatic weapons. Sehra Muril by his side who was wearing her gear, except for her helmet, the large rifle that she had in Gellar was in hand.

"The bastards just don't know when to give up." Sehra said as she rested the rifled on the hood of a car aiming down the street, several Beowolves had started to gather there, taking a deep breath before realizing it she fired. The head of the lead Beowolf disappeared in a cloud of bone fragments and blood. The loud report of the rifle however made a few nearby officers jump in surprise at the sound.

Qrow stood next to her, his sword rest against his soldier, Ironwood hadn't said anything after his robots had turned on them. While they were able to escape the initial betrayal, more than a few civilians and police officers didn't make it as Atlas Military Technology turned on them.

Sanian and the Sisterhood were able to contain the problem and effectively destroy every last bit of the machines but the damage was done.

While the officers were a little more understanding, the civilians had turned on the Atlas personal that were still there. Now the police department had its manpower stretched to the limit to protect the civilians, Vale, and keep riots that were occurring from getting out of control. To add onto that, rumors were circling that Atlas had a part to do in the attack, while most dismissed it openly Qrow knew that more than a few people thought of it as a possibility.

Two Sisterhood squads moved forward on both sides of the street towards the Grimm, Sehra fired another round killing a Beowolf. The rest turned towards them and immediately fled, Qrow narrowed his eyes at that. The Sisters moved into the street as the windows of buildings around them exploded, Bloodletters jumping at them with their blades poised to strike.

The warriors stood their ground and fired at the daemons, the initial bursts cutting apart the daemons, however the daemons still reached the Sisters. While adept at fighting at close combat the Sisters were no match for the strength and skills of the daemons. Qrow raced forward, he heard another gunshot of Sehra's rifle echo behind him, seeing the back of one Bloodletter burst from the round ahead of him.

He saw one Sister get hacked by two different blades, her body falling to pieces. Another Sister screamed in pain as a Bloodletter pulled her arm off and cleaved its sword down her shoulder to groin, cutting her in half. Qrow raised his weapon and fired the inbuilt shotgun; the blast shredded the back of another Bloodletter that had just beheaded a woman.

It turned towards Qrow and ran at him with its blade raised, but Qrow didn't give it a chance to get close he fired again, the shotgun blast hit its right arm. Its elbow disappeared in a burst of blood and flesh, its forearm still clutching the sword fell to the ground. It roared in pain and Qrow closed the distance as it stumbled, it swung at Qrow with its remaining arm, Qrow ducked and swung up cutting off the other hand. Twisting his grip he brought the sword down in an overhead arc and chopped into its face.

Qrow turned his attention to another Bloodletter and ducked the horizontal swing from its sword, the blade cut straight through a metal pole behind him. Qrow stood up straight watching the daemon look at him before getting a light pole speared through its chest. Qrow raised his weapon and blasted it in the face with his shotgun; its head came apart in a shower of blood and bone fragments.

He stepped back narrowly avoiding another blade and swung his sword low, the blade bit into the knee of the creature, cutting halfway through, he pulled the sword back. He raised his sword, turning it around to point down and embedded the sword in the shoulder of the daemon. He pulled it out and swung his blade to meet the next daemon, painful vibrations of the impact travelled up his arms, even now the strength was startling even for Qrow.

However strength wasn't everything. Quickly breaking apart and stepping inside the guard of the daemon he swung up, the tip of his blade connected with the daemon's lower jaw and tore it off, spinning around he slashed down, the sword carving deep into its chest. He heard something from his right; he pulled his sword and out jumped back avoiding a swing from another Bloodletter, who embedded its blade into its dead comrade's chest.

Qrow didn't give it time to react thrust his blade forward, the tip of his sword slicing through its neck and severed the head of the daemon. Warm blood spurted over Qrow; he ignored it as he turned around, while the daemons had wreaked havoc on Sisters, additional reinforcements in the form of two dozen Sisters appearing on the rooftops fired with precision finishing off the remaining Bloodletters.

"Qrow! Are you alright?" Sehra asked as she jogged over to him, her rifle slung over her shoulder. Qrow found it slightly amusing that her rifle was almost as big as her. Then again his niece, Ruby had a scythe that was twice her height.

"I'm fine, though it looks like they aren't." He said pointing at the butchered bodies of the Sisters lying amongst the corpses of Bloodletters. None of the Sisters that had been ambushed were still alive, all of them had been cut down to the last, a few were technically still alive but with missing limbs and gaping wounds Qrow would be surprised if any of them lived to see tomorrow.

"We should head back now, I'm almost out of magazines and you look like you probably need some more shotgun shells." Sehra said nodding to his weapon, he bowed slightly mockingly and raised a hand waving in the general direction of the Arcadian line, she just snorted in amusement.

The Arcadian line was really just a line of armored personnel carriers that they called Chimera's that lined around a three way intersection outside of a park. In the distance Qrow could see dozens of police officers and Sisterhood warriors mingling, until they're needed. They proceeded to a large tent in which boxes upon boxes that held dust rounds for the Police and Huntsmen to use. Sehra split off to another tent that was being used for the Sisterhood.

"Qrow, are you in here?" The voice of Glynda Goodwitch came from outside the tent as Qrow sorted through for the necessary ammunition. Glynda had elected to stay constructing simple barriers for the Arcs and Vale Police with her telekinesis for them and to help defend while Ironwood tried to calm down the wrathful population.

"Yea, you need something Glynda?" She didn't say anything, nor did she come in.

"You need to come see this." He wasn't expecting that, he finished loading his weapon and taking a handful of extra shells that he slipped into his pockets. He stepped outside and noticed a change in the atmosphere; everyone seemed to be looking at something in the camp. Following their gaze he noticed a bright light shining from one of the tents, Glynda beckoned him to follow; Sehra appeared by his side curiosity etched on her face.

As they headed over to the tent Qrow could make out a few snippets of conversation that the Sisterhood warriors were saying amongst themselves. Something about her powers, Qrow wasn't sure what it all meant but it must have been important if they were so fascinated by it. Glynda brushed aside the tent flap and stepped in, Qrow followed her, and the first person he saw was that Brin fellow, who was married to Sanian Arc.

Sanian who just so happened to be there was standing in the middle of the tent was glowing. Large wings that seemed to be tinged blue had sprouted from her armored back. Her eyes were no longer the same but now seemed to glow with some strange energy. Her golden sword was sticking up from the ground; it was tinged with blue, with electricity dancing across its surface.

"What's going on?" Qrow asked Brin turned to look at him.

"I guess you can say her semblance is activating." Qrow wasn't sure what that meant nor was he familiar with this kind of semblance, but that was the moment that she spoke.

"The Rose is the Key." She said simply, her voice however was distorted as it seemed to echo and overlap with itself. She stepped forward; grasping her sword, everyone near the tent stepped back in shock as her wings stretched, with a mighty flap of the wings, Sanian took to the air. She turned towards Beacon, and with another flap of her wings she set forth soaring through the air towards Beacon. Qrow stood watching her thinking about what she meant. That's when it occurred to him what rose she might have meant, he looked at Glynda.

"We need to get to Beacon now." Glynda quirked an eyebrow at him but she nodded nonetheless and left to organize a ride for them.

"Shit." He realized that it would take too long, he turned to Sehra.

"Wait here with Glynda until she gets a Bullhead, I'm going to Beacon, meet me at the base of Beacon Tower when you get there." He said before taking off to the nearest building, he could hear Sehra call out to him but now wasn't the time to answer her questions. He climbed up the fire escape on the side of the building, he looked in the distance, fires illuminated Beacon, sprinting, he dived off the building.

* * *

 **Ozpin's Office…**

The sky overhead flashed once more, though by now Pyrrha could tell it wasn't really lightning; the Grimm Wyvern was fighting against the versatile aircraft of the Arcs. Though there was something else out there fighting the beast, something that was no doubt proving difficult for even a beast of that size to put down.

In the distance to her left she could see the outskirts of Vale, flashes of explosions and the occasional line of gunfire arcing into the air could be seen. Below them she could hear fighting, not the kind of which she experience earlier when they had first arrived and fought with her fellow huntsman in training. No, this sounded more like the fighting that she had witnessed from the Arcadian soldiers in Leflore, loud and destructive.

The armored warriors of the Arcs that reminded her of Saul were apparently advancing through the hordes of Grimm and Daemon packs, slaughtering everything that stood in their path. She had seen them earlier as she had fought the woman. Now the woman stood at the edge of the destroyed tower top looking down with undisguised contempt.

This made Pyrrha happy to know that even in the end despite all that she did to hurt them she was still so far from victory. First the Arcs had chased the Wyvern off for the time being with their aircraft. Now they have warriors that could take on the Grimm and Bloodletters in a toe to toe fight.

Thinking of the Arcs brought her back to her choice, she sent Jaune away to face off against this woman alone. She knew that she didn't have a chance; it was the clear the moment that she had taken the other half of the maiden's power and was able to defeat Ozpin.

Though when she was in that machine the power had showed her some interesting things, a being of unspeakable power who was both human and not at the same time. The images and words that the being showed her had no bearing on her but she knew what she saw was something that few if any have or will ever know. However she did feel a certain kinship with that being, doing all that you can even if it meant starring into the eyes of an inevitable death to do your duty.

Though at the same time she felt like she was just being foolish about it, she could have done something or really anything else to avoid this situation. She could have gotten her friends to come and help her, or left it to someone stronger, like Glynda but then again, if Ozpin failed, who else was there? She couldn't help but feel a small spark of mirth form in her. It seems that saying about hindsight being so much clearer was right after all. She shifted a little, pain flooded her system with a jolt and she looked down at her ankle, her situation once more sinking in.

Her aura was gone; pain wracked her body especially in her ankle, she could see blood oozing down the glass arrow that went through it. She had given it her all and for a little while it seemed she might get through it, but it seemed fate was destined against her. Something clinked and Pyrrha looked back up at the slightly disheveled and panting woman before her.

"For what it's worth you're an incredible fighter but ultimately it was futile." Pyrrha just grinned slightly, this was her first big loss, and it was an interesting feeling to finally no longer be the Invincible Girl anymore. The woman's face grew neutral like someone who was doing a mundane task rather standing over a defeated opponent. Pyrrha's grin softened a little as acceptance of what's to come settled in; she looked the woman straight into her uncaring amber eyes.

"Do you believe in destiny?"

* * *

 **Oh dear, was that a cliff hanger?**

 **Also to those that have asked, no Bumble Bee is not a thing here.**

 **Other pairings are still up for debate.**

 **Anyways, feel free to leave a review or comment, or message me if there's something you wanna suggest or ask about.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The woman looked down at her without empathy, though she could see the slightest hint of amusement in her otherwise cold eyes. The echoes of warfare drifted up towards them, the distance thumps and crackle of explosions and small arms fire led credence to the image of the world falling apart around Pyrrha. The woman notched and drew another arrow, leveling the bow with Pyrrha's chest.

"Yes." The woman said flatly at Pyrrha's earlier question, with a small sad smile touching her lips Pyrrha closed her eyes.

Pyrrha felt something impact the ground with a loud crack in front of her, opening her eyes; she saw the black metal shaft of a weapon in front of her. Black fragments of an arrow was scattered around Pyrrha. Looking up she saw that the woman wasn't paying her any more attention but was looking somewhere else. Following her gaze, standing at the edge of the tower in finely wrought golden armor was Alexander Arc.

"My I feel blessed to be in the presence of the Patriarch of the Arc House, Alexander Arc." The woman cooed as she stepped away from Pyrrha. Pyrrha couldn't see Alexander's face due to the strange helmet obscuring it but something told her that he wasn't very amused.

"Oh? No words from you, I'd figure someone with your age and experience should have a thing or two to say." The woman continued as she turned her back to them to walk to the far side of Ozpin's office. Alexander stepped forward; his metal sabatons crunched small rocks and fragments to dust as he made his way to Pyrrha's side. He kneeled down next to her, as his face got closer Pyrrha could see his eyes were still locked onto the woman.

"Can you stand?" He asked softly, Pyrrha shook her head.

"No, not without help." Pyrrha grunted softly as she tried to get up but failed, pain soared through her ankle, Alexander extended a gauntleted hand. At that moment the woman spun around with another arrow notched and drawn, she fired it straight at Alexander and quickly drew another arrow before firing it at Pyrrha.

Alexander stepped forward in front of her and took the arrow to the chest; the first arrow glanced off his pauldron. Looking down he could see that the arrow didn't fully penetrate his chest plate but was embedded into it slightly. With a swipe of his right hand he broke it off, his left reached back and grasped the shaft of his glaive and with a heave he pulled it out.

Pyrrha was shocked to see that the blade of the glaive had been buried nearly a foot into the floor of the tower. Spinning the glaive around, he smashed another arrow out of the air. He dashed forward raising the glaive up before slashing diagonally but the woman had jumped back and with a glow, her bow changed into two serrated short swords.

She brought them up in time to meet the blade of the glaive; however Alexander spins it in reverse as the blades clashed and with the other end of his weapon knocks the swords up. Continuing to rotate it the glaive, the blade comes whooshing back up. The woman jumps back barely in time as the blade tip came within an inch of her, as they stood apart from each other she could see a lock of black hair float down to the shattered floor.

She didn't have time to react to that when Alexander grips his weapon in both hands and spins it, slashing horizontally at her but the woman moves back, he continues to spin, loosening his grip so that the glaive slides forward out of his hands but at the last second grasps the end of the glaive and swings it back around. She knocks the glaive aside and leaps towards him; Alexander pulls the glaive back and with two hands raises the metal shaft up to block the first sword.

She thrusts the second sword but Alexander, centers his hands on the shaft and spins the glaive knocking the blade aside. He steps forward continuing to spin the glaive in his hands, Pyrrha watched as the two came to blows once more, sparks issued between them as their weapons clashed time and time again.

She was amazed at how Alexander was fighting; he was continuously spinning his weapon in a manner she didn't think should have been effective with his type of weapon. Every time it was met with resistance or a block Alexander would start spinning in the opposite direction meeting the woman's dual swords with his own blade, or the shaft.

She continued to watch as the seconds flew by with both opponents fighting fiercely, she realized how lucky she was to be able to have last as long as she did. Pyrrha found it unfathomable at how fast Alexander's strikes were. Or how quickly he seems to be able to react or move in that sort of armor.

She watched as the woman's face twisted in frustration, sweat beading her brow, soon after having another blow blocked she jumped back and out of Alexander's reach. With a frustrated yell her weapons disappeared and her eyes started to glow.

Pyrrha could feel her blood run cold, a shout died on her lips as two flames sprouted from her palms, Alexander crouched slightly with his glaive in hand. She flung both balls of fire, Alexander dove to the side as the first slammed into the floor, and glowing chunks of concrete flew in the air.

Alexander swung his glaive at the second one, because of his roll he had wound up with a wall to his back and a large clock gear to his left, trapping him.

The blade made contact with the fireball and it exploded, Pyrrha covered her eyes from the smoke and dust, heat pricked at her skin. Looking up she couldn't see where Alexander was, after a few moments, the smoke started to dissipate to reveal Alexander slumped against the wall.

The plume atop his helmet was almost burnt completely off, the shorten edges were aglow from the flames. The cloth around his waist was in tatters, the edges burnt black, and his armor steamed from the heat. Using his glaive as a crutch, he pulled himself back up, and took hold of his weapon and crouched slightly ready for the woman's next attack.

Pyrrha was amazed at first of his aura's strength to be able to stomach such a hit, but as she took in the sight of his armor she realized a very important fact. Alexander didn't have any aura; Pyrrha glanced at the woman and could see that she was smiling viciously as she must have come to the same conclusion.

Distinctly Pyrrha heard an engine come to life from nearby, and before she knew it the sound of a rocket locker soared in. The locker smashed into the ground sending cracks through the floor around it, Pyrrha stared incredulously as the locker door popped open.

The one person that she both wanted and dreaded to see stepped out, his shaggy blond hair almost shining amongst the drab colors of the broken tower top. Jaune released of pent up breath that he had held for the shaky trip from the ground to Ozpin's office.

However almost instantly he drew out Crocea Mors and activated his shield holding them up, he looked around, briefly catching his father's eye and settled his gaze at the woman standing before them. She met his gaze and smirked, if she could stand toe to toe with not only Ozpin and Alexander Arc, this boy would be no problem.

"Jaune what the fuck!? How!? Why did you come back!?" Pyrrha yelled at his back, Jaune didn't turn to look at her. Panic and frustration boiled up, she didn't want him to get hurt or die, and that was why she had put him in that locker.

Jaune backed up with his shield still raised in front of him. Alexander had charged the woman again and Pyrrha could see that he was struggling to get in reach with his glaive as the woman continuously backed up with her bow.

"Why wouldn't I come back for you Pyrrha?" Jaune said as he crouched next to her, laying Crocea Mors to the side and took a look at Pyrrha's ankle. Pyrrha looked at Jaune's face and could see that he was a mixture of emotions at the moment, occasionally glancing at his father's fight.

"Jaune you didn't have to do this." Pyrrha said softly, tears pricking at her eyes, Jaune shut his eyes and his face scrunched up.

"Of course I fucking had to do this Pyrrha, I love you and I would rather kill myself knowing that you're in harm's way while I did nothing." Pyrrha couldn't say anything, he did have a point, and she sent him away to live while she knowingly went to her death.

"I mean you even looked me in the eye and told me that you loved me, and send me away as you go willingly to your death, that's not fucking fair." Jaune opened his eyes at that and Pyrrha could see his eyes shimmer with tears in the low light of the fires raging below.

Alexander felt another arrow smash into his armor, he couldn't keep taking these hits, all it takes is one lucky shot and it'll be her advantage. He dove to the side as she fired another arrow and charged the woman, lunging forward the blade of the glaive cut through the air inches away from her torso.

Spinning the glaive as quickly above his head the butt of the glaive connected with the woman's chest and sent her stumbling to the ground. She fell onto her back and rolled with the momentum her bow already drawn, and released the arrow.

Alexander cursed as he felt the arrow strike his chest; he could feel the tip of the arrow brush against his chest slightly. With a swipe of his hand, he broke the arrow and lunged at her, drawing his arm back to strike down at her. She jumped back once more as Alexander got closer but her eyes narrowed as she realized that his posture was different than before.

Switching his grip on his glaive he followed through with his original motion but instead hurled the glaive as hard as he could. In a show of unbelievable luck, the woman's moved her head to the side just in time to avoid getting the blade imbedded into her skull. Jaune could see the look of utter rage and confusion on her face, as another lock of raven black hair fell followed by a drop of blood from the gash on her cheek.

Before any other move could be done there was an earth shaking roar that emitted from the skies above them. They looked up, and in the distance over the Forever Fall forest, a black shape fell to the earth, it was the Grimm Wyvern.

 **Beacon Cliffside…**

* * *

Looking into the distance they saw the Grimm Wyvern fall, Ren couldn't help but wonder if that was a bad thing or good. However the murmur of panic and fear was strong enough that he could practically smell it. Though Sun and the other team leaders immediately set out to quelling the fear of their fellow students. Ren stood up grabbing a blanket as he walked back to Nora.

He didn't have to worry about that since two of his teammates were missing and Nora was asleep after all the fighting they had done. He stood over his partner and lifelong friend; she was sleeping soundly though he could see the twitch of her hand as if she was ready to jump up swinging. He draped the blanket over her, and sat down on the stone steps beside her.

With Jaune and Pyrrha both missing he once more had to make sure that she was safe, though even now he wasn't truly alone nor was he the young boy in the middle of a destroyed village all those years ago.

Looking around he could see that many of the Beacon students were having a hard time keeping up. Only a few like Coco, Sun, and Arslan were going around making checking up on all the students and teams that were still alive. Ren quickly glanced over to the far edge, Velvet, Yatsuhashi and a few others were attending to the wounded.

Both Sage and Scarlet were sitting next to Neptune who's leg was bandaged from a sword wound he had taken earlier in the fighting against the Daemons. The once pristine white cloth was now soaked and now was dark red.

He wasn't the only one hurt; there was more than a few students hurt. Some of whom that that collectively all the team leaders, plus Ren as the representative of team JNPR, felt wouldn't make it to see the next day.

While aura was a marvelous tool that helps them from getting hurt or getting sick so easily. Once it's gone though, the person will start taking the hits themselves and that in turns affect their aura's ability to either recover or function as it should. The more hurt that person is, the long it takes for their aura to recharge itself and help the person.

In this case with the wounds that some have taken such as Neptune stab wound which they were able to slow the bleeding but it was still a danger if it were to get infected while his aura worked slowly to get back to a safe level.

One of the girls from NDGO had suffered a blunt strike of a sword to the chest after her aura gave out. Now she had multiple broken ribs and her breathing was raspier then it should be. Her aura wasn't replenishing fast enough to heal the wound as it tried to recover itself and heal her at the same time. So they would need to get her professional medical attention.

Thankfully they didn't have to do anymore fighting it seemed. Earlier a series of explosions had occurred further down the avenue and the students had watched as massive armored warriors had strode out the fires to fire their unique weapons at the backs of Grimm and Daemon alike.

Adding onto the warriors' assault, the Machine had done a devastating toll on their numbers as well as it charged their ranks. Its massive armored bulk and weaponry left a devastating path in its wake.

Though just as quickly as they came slaughtering the Grimm and Daemons alike, they turned around almost as soon as the last enemy fell. Though one warrior with a blue illuminated sword that seemed to crackle with energy had seemed to give the Machine a greeting's in the form of slamming across his fist across chest.

From that point the students had watched and listened as battle raged in the distance, not only from Vale and Beacon but Forever Fall forest as well.

There was a rustle of clothes from behind Ren, and with a brief glance from the corner of his eye, he spotted the leader of team RWBY standing behind him looking down at her feet.

"Yes Ruby?" Ren asked as he looked back to Beacon, he wasn't sure about the young Reaper anymore. After the incident between Pyrrha and her, there has been a slight strain between the two teams, though really it was between her, Jaune and Pyrrha.

However what affected them still affected the rest of them, Nora always seemed to be a little more on the edge as if ready to intervene if anything happened. Even the other members of team RWBY have appeared to be a little more apprehensive whenever they were all together.

Ren honestly found it slightly aggravating at the damage it has done. However he still knew that now was definitely not the time to focus on such trivial matters.

"I'm just worried."

"We're all worried, between the Daemons, Grimm and White Fang it looks like none of us were getting out of here alive or at least perfectly fine." He could practically feel her stiffen up to his response, while Ruby is a talented scythe wielder that could be surprisingly mature she still had an over optimistic view of a happy ending for all of them.

If there was one thing Ren had learned over the years, it was that nothing lasts forever. There comes a time in which all things must end, sometimes violently and sometimes peacefully. This was sadly another one of those times in his and Nora's lives.

"Well there is that, but the Arcs are helping us, so everything should be back to normal soon." Ren didn't know what to say to that, on one hand part of him wanted to agree but on the other hand he knew nothing was going to be the same no matter what they thought.

"You don't think that do you?" The younger girl asked from behind him, Ren didn't say anything.

"I thought so, but I'm also really worried about is Jaune."

"But not Pyrrha?" He said almost instantly the moment she uttered those words.

"That's not fair to assume, of course I'm worried but she can handle herself, Jaune didn't need to go out on his own like that." There was a flash of light above them in the clouds, Ren squinted his eyes a little as he looked to the ground.

"I wouldn't say that, Jaune was quite adamant that Pyrrha wasn't going to win whoever she's fighting, and the fact that the last thing we saw about her aura was that it was barely a quarter left, when have we ever seen that before." Ruby didn't say anything clenching her hands in frustration.

"Besides they're partners, and I know Jaune wouldn't abandon a friend like that." Ren said but before another response could be made the sounds of engines could be heard in the distance. Turning around Ren and Ruby could both see dozens of Bullheads with the symbol of the Arcs painted on their hulls heading either to Beacon or Vale.

"I guess the Arcs brought in even more reinforcements." Ren said as a trio of Bullhead flew overhead, there were several flashes under the nose of the crafts. Ren watched as the white exhaust trails of rockets sped off towards the tree lines on either side of the school. Their line of sight was obscured by smoke and debris as the trees shattered from the effects of the munitions.

More Bullheads descended to the docking platforms and dozens of armed soldiers came running out. Sergeants were yelling orders and field medics rushed over to the wounded students, and effectively starting a triage station, already the more serious injured students were being led waiting Bullheads.

The students cheered on the soldiers as they started to form up in their platoons and immediately head out towards Beacon and the surrounding areas. Ren watched as Sun helped Neptune up and start helping him over to a waiting Bullhead.

However something else caught his eye, in the distance from Vale, something white was coming towards them. At that moment Nora came up to him with a wide smile on her face, though Ren could still see that exhaustion clung to her.

"Does this mean it's over?" She asked loudly, having to yell as more Bullheads flew deafeningly over them to drop more soldiers off in the fields. The staccato sound of small arms fire started to pick up as Arcadian infantry started to engage the straggling creatures of Grimm, Daemons, and even White Fang groups.

"Maybe." Nora's face scrunched up and she looked towards Beacon Tower, in the stifled rays of dawn they could see storm clouds were gathering over it. Ren narrowed his eyes once more in thought; it wasn't something that was normal, though nothing of that night had been normal so far.

The ground started to shake a little and everyone turned their heads when an incredibly roar could be heard. In the distance coming from the direction of the Forever Fall forest, the head of the Wyvern could be seen rearing up letting loose another bellow. Everyone stopped what they were doing as they saw the Grimm make its way into Beacon.

There was a flap of wings and a surge of chatter mainly from the Arcadian soldiers, the two members of team JNPR turned around. Standing on the platforms was Sanian Arc, majestic white wings extended from her back, light seemed to shine from her lighting up the surrounding area, and Ruby took a step forward.

"Sanian? Is that you?" She looked down at Ruby; she could see a faint smile touch her lips.

"Yes it is dear Ruby, but enough of the pleasantries, I must ask you something." Ruby stood up straight at that, Weiss having seen to the medical departure joined up with them. Though she didn't say anything, opting to let Sanian speak.

"Ruby you're friends need your help, you're the key to all of this." Ruby wasn't sure at what Sanian was talking about but the way she spoke was strange like an echo that overlapped with her voice, familiar yet distant at the same time.

"Do you not want to save Jaune?" Sanian said and didn't say, Ruby thought she said that but her mouth didn't seem to move, that's strange. However that's exactly what she wanted to do, save Jaune, if she happened to save Pyrrha and Beacon along the way, that's fine.

Sanian extended her hand and Ruby tentatively reached out for it but Weiss grabbed her wrist.

"Ruby what are you doing?!" Weiss asked, and Ruby was surprised at the emotion choking her voice. Worry plain on her face, but Ruby shrugged it off, and looked away.

"I have to do this Weiss, just trust me." Weiss stepped front of the young reaper.

"I do trust you Ruby, you're my friend, but this…this is too much." Weiss said gesturing at Sanian's winged glowing form. Ruby shook her head and stepped forward, once more reaching out for Sanian's hand.

 **Skies above Beacon…**

* * *

Qrow flapped above the skies of Beacon's air docks; below him he could see the mass of students milling around it. He could also see the rows of white sheets that were covering bodies off in the corner; he knew that his nieces were safe for the most part.

Though Yang was in a precarious state he knew that for sure, he had seen her bright mane as she was unconscious on the ground next to her partner. He would need to check up on her the moment he gets a chance, most likely take her home so that she could recover as well.

However what was really drawing his attention was the Arcadian vessel that have been fighting the Grimm Wyvern, Qrow wasn't sure if that was the correct term but it seemed to fit. Thought the Grimm was now sprawled in the depths of Forever Fall forest.

The screams of engines filled the air from above him in an almost shrieking note as a trio of aircraft sped past Qrow towards, he could see that several objects detached from underneath their angled wings. A few moments later after the pilots pulled up, a series of bright explosions appeared on or around the creature.

The creature roared either in pain or frustration, he wasn't sure but he could see a trio of obscure red marks on its body that indicated that it was indeed wounded in a sense. A black miasma seemed to drift into the air from the marks on its body.

There was something else in the air though, something that gave him a sense of unease. Looking over at Beacon Tower he could see that the sky seemed to be different, the swirl of clouds darker than the others gave him an inkling that Ozpin may be out of the picture. He stifled that train of thought; it would do him no good to think about something like that.

Though it inevitably drew up the thought about Alexander Arc, where was he in all of this? Was he leading his forces or did he stay behind in Beacon with Ozpin, and if he was with Ozpin did that mean he was gone also?

There was a new sudden surge of force that battered Qrow from above and the world spun as he struggled to control his fall again. He barely managed to correct himself as he neared the trees, using his fall and momentum to glide over the blood red canopy.

With a few quick flaps, Qrow starts to gain height once more, looking for the source of the sent him plummeting from the skies. As he scanned the skies he found what was able to down the Grimm Wyvern.

A massive metallic behemoth slowly flew through the skies, whereas the Atlas Naval Ships were arrow-shaped hulls, with two nacelles that came off their sides. They had several spines protruding from the engine supports with several nozzles in between the spines, as well as on the bottom of the engine supports. With forward facing laser batteries capable of downing any other ship its size.

The Arcadian ship was so much different, it was nearly fourteen hundred meters long. Unlike the Atlas narrow like stature, the Arcadian vessel was much thicker and had more a more rounded appearance. Qrow flew higher in order to get a better look of the ship.

The prow of the vessel curved down into a sharp point almost like a ram at the very top it seemed that there was supposed to be something, like a statue, but it had been removed, with a dual barreled front facing turret.

While behind it, the main body was split into two portions the front half of the ship was shaped more like a pentagon, the bottom three sections of it that Qrow could see held one row of three large barreled cannons. Though the section of hull angled up seemed to be honeycombed with six rather noticeable external panels, Qrow wasn't sure what they were but no doubt it must be potent.

Halfway down the ship it went from the pentagon shape to more rectangle design with an additional smaller portion on top illuminated by multiple lights which Qrow assumed was the bridge. On the side he could see an additional eight external panels, and he had no doubt there it was mirrored on the other side.

Qrow could also see a different variety of guns, these one while nowhere near as big as the cannons, they had four barrels and seemed to track the skies around them. There was one on each corner of the section with an additional four at the base of the tower. No doubt they were probably some sort of short range or air defense for the vessel.

Behind it Qrow could see the blue glow of what appeared to be two massive engines stacked on top of each other. Four plates of solid metal covered the top, bottom and sides as additional protection.

Though Qrow could see clear signs of battle, numerous gouges could be seen on the hull of the ship. Several of the turrets looked to have bite marks that had dented the armor or barrels. The bridge itself had claw and teeth marks traveling up it. It seems the Wyvern did put up quite a fight to leave such visible marks it had on the vessel.

Qrow watched as the vessel once more disappeared behind the clouds. Though now that he knew it was lurking in the skies with them he felt a little more relieved, yet at the same time apprehensive.

The Arcs have something like that at their command, was it the only one, and just how strong was it? There was a series of flashes in the clouds and Qrow watched as trio of bright lights hurtled to the earth leaving white exhaust behind them.

With a few flaps of his wings he lingered in place, watching as the objects flew towards the Wyvern, and exploded. Even from that distance he could feel a slightly breeze of concussive force. Qrow waited till the smoke cleared and saw that the forest was alight with flames around the general area.

Though the Grimm Wyvern was still alive, shaking its head a little, it looked up and let loose an incredible bellow of rage. Though as Qrow looked down from above it, he could see why the Grimm had fallen, its right red leather wing had a massive hole in the middle of it.

Qrow watched as black goo seemed to fall from its body and Grimm started to emerge from the dark puddles. Something else caught his eye, there were even more objects moving towards it on the ground, Qrow dove.

As he extended his wings to slow and pull up from the descent, as he got near the first one he noticed it was a massive mechanical walking machine. Though unlike the purple and gold one that he had seen watching the students this one was much bigger and taller, and looked even more deadly.

The lead one was cobalt blue, roughly twelve meters tall with a wide armored plated back, on the left shoulder plate was a white horse head, on the right was a checkered pattern plate with a gold trim. In the center facing forward was the golden Arc emblem against a white circular background on the blue plate.

On the right arm, where the elbow would be was a large single barreled cannon with a blast shield between the barrel and cradle of the weapon. On its left arm at the joint was a long cobalt blue metal instrument. As Qrow flew over he saw that the edges were serrated teeth, it looked a lot like the chainsaw that the big guy that Qrow had fought on the train had.

Much to Qrow's surprise it really was a chainsaw, a massive Ursa Major almost the size of an Atlesian Paladin had charged the machine from the right. It pivoted on its waist swinging its left apparatus with the motion of its turn. Qrow watched as with edge came into contact with the Grimm's arm and chewed through it until it was burying itself into the creature's chest. There were four more similar armored walkers that seemed to be surrounding the Grimm Wyvern and the spawning smaller Grimm.

The second one that Qrow spotted was built in a similar fashion to the first one. However this one was painted red for its main body. Its pauldron were black with blue trims that had the golden emblem of the Arcs on the right with a white horse head on its left. The other difference was the fact that it had a vertical dual barreled weapon for its right arm unlike its counterpart. Across from them were three different machines.

The lead machine was a bright red and silver colored machine, the Arc emblem against a white background was painted on its right pauldron and its left pauldron was red with a black horse head.

Unlike the first two walkers this one had no visible long range weapons other than a back mounted external launcher of some kind.

While it had the similar kind of weapon for its left arm; the right arm was an armored hand. Qrow could see that an additional strip of metal had been wielded onto its robotic knuckles; blue energy seemed to dance on the surface.

Behind it a lumbering machine that strode forth through the trampled trees. Whereas the lead machine that stomped through the trees seemed to be geared for close range combat primarily. This one was equipped with nothing but pure firepower.

It's body was painted dark red and with dark blue for it pauldrons with a golden trim, a white horse head visible in the weakened light of dawn on its left pauldron and the golden crests of the Arc emblem opposite.

In its right arm was as similar vertical dual barreled weapon, and its left arm was a six barreled rotary weapon. On its back was a mounted dual barreled weapon of some sort, Qrow watched as several Griffins born by the black miasma of the Grimm Wyvern, dived towards the machines.

The weapon on the back swirled and started to track the Griffins for a second before simultaneously started to fire, Qrow recognized the distinct roar of auto cannon fire from his time with the Arcs. He watched as the mounted guns tracked and slaughtered the Griffins, shells arced into the skies. Qrow was careful enough to avoid getting caught accidently in the guns line of sight. After a minute of thunderous fire the last of the Griffins fell apart as they plummeted to the forest floor dissolving.

Off to the side was a different machine, this one was slightly taller but smaller. Qrow swooped down for a closer look; it was colored red with a grey trim, the golden Arc emblem visible on the top pointing to the sky. On its right arm sat a strange looking device that resembled the frame of a tower shield.

Extending from the joint with six bronze metal strips forming a hallow spear point. Qrow could see that there was some sort of light or energy source within the spear head.

The machines longer frame and legs allowed it to weave in between the other two machines. Qrow thought it looked silly and like unnecessary work. However the more he looked at it, the more it felt as if the machine was impatient.

The sound of cannon fire interrupted his musing and Qrow circled around to see that the other two machines had started to engage the lesser Grimm surrounding the Wyvern, in a small clearing made by the rocket strike earlier.

The cobalt machine fired a cannon round at the chest of another Ursa that tried getting close to it. With a speed that Qrow didn't think possible for a machine its size, it turned immediately around swinging its chain weapon at a trio of Beowolves that had tried to jump on its back.

The shrieking of a chain weapon could be heard as well as the howl of Beowolves in pain, the bisected bodies of the Grimm fell to the floor.

The moment its back was turned several more Beowolves charged at it, but before they even jumped from the ground a searing beam of energy slammed amongst them. The resulting explosion sent them flying into the trees with bone crushing force.

The sister machine had stepped in to cover the other machine's back as it cut down more Ursa with each swing of its chain weapon.

Ahead of them, trees splintered apart as two Deathstalkers came charging, the red machine turned to face them. Weapon still aglow from being fired it turned and tracked the lead Deathstalker, another searing lance of energy shot out from the weapon.

The first Deathstalker moved its left pincer in front of its face, the lance of energy hit, the smell of burnt meat with plastic wafted in the air as Qrow watched the Deathstalker flay about in pain. Its pincer nothing but a molten stump and the bone white armor of its back scorched and blistered from the heat. The eyes on the left side of its face were fused together by the intense heat of the blast.

The second Deathstalker closed in on the Machine swinging its own pincer; sparks flew as the machine met the pincer with its chain weapon. Though the weapon was unable to beat the pincer, the strength of the machine and durability was able to lock the Deathstalker in place.

The second pincer lashed out and gripped the red hot barrels of the machine weapon. Qrow could see that the Deathstalker was attempting to force or rip the weapon off the machine. The machine had other ideas and kept slowly training the barrels towards it, however the Deathstalker raised its stinger and lashed out with it.

Qrow could see that the stinger punch in between the pauldron and the main body of the machine, pulling it back it repeatedly struck at it. The third pull back was its last as the first machine had come back around and fired its cannon; the red hot shell hit the stinger square on. It disappeared in a cloud of bone fragments and smoke.

Another shot slammed into the unprotected arm of the Deathstalker, the portion of the arm vanished in a cloud of meat and smoke. The stump of the arm attached to the body was a mess of torn meat and bone, flopping around.

The second Deathstalker chose that moment to attack; with its remaining pincer it locked the chain weapon in place. Its stinger rose up and jammed down into the machine's back, leaving a foot wide hole in its back. Qrow could see sparks and what he assumed was hydraulic fluid of some sort leak out of the hole.

The machine however wasn't going to go down without putting up a fight. Twisting its body on its waist, Qrow could hear the sound of motors and metal straining to move as the Deathstalker tried holding it in place as it struck again at it.

As the stinger repeatedly hit the hole, the machine was just barely able to turn its gun inward and fire. The shell smashed into the face of the Deathstalker, and charred hole could be seen where its face once was.. The Grimm's grip on the machine's arm went slack.

Qrow watched as the machine shrugged off the Grimm and turned to its comrade, firing once more into the unprotected underside of the Grimm. The shell tore through the black flesh and an exploded inside the creature. The bone shell on top came apart from the inside, showering its comrade in shredded flesh and bone fragments.

The two machines seemed to survey their work, but it was short lived, as Qrow turned to see flashes of fighting in the distance where the other three machines had been. As he flew over he realized what the machines were trying to finish off the Grimm Wyvern.

The Wyvern roared as a cluster of rockets soared towards it, for a second its head disappeared in a cloud of smoke before it was dispelled by a simple shake. The long range based machine was standing in the back steadily pumping out shells with its cannon at the Grimm.

The bright streaks of shells indicating its rough position, auto cannon shells would occasionally streak through the sky to fell any lesser Grimm above them.

Ahead of it was the lead machine from before battering aside lesser Grimm with its fist that crackled with blue energy. Each strike seemed to release energy that must have been stored in the metal fist. Qrow watched as the machine gripped the lower jaw of a King Taijitu that was as thick as a car and pulled, ripping the jaw out of the snake.

As it flayed around in pain, the machine stepped forward swinging its chain weapon down. The spinning serrated blade came into contact with the scaled skin of the Grimm, the sheer force of the strike was enough to embed the weapon a third of the way into the snake. Qrow watched as the chain weapon slowly but surely sunk deeper and erupted in a shower of gore as the weapon cut the snake in half.

Running past it at an incredible speed considering its size was the long legged machine. It had its tower shield frame held up and Qrow could see that in-between the metal frames was a strange translucent film. It ran straight into another Deathstalker who struck at it with its stinger.

Qrow watched as the stinger struck the translucent surface and bounced off, at the same moment, the machine lunged forward with its spear weapon slipping over its pincer, but it stopped short of reaching the Deathstalker. What happened next had genuinely surprised Qrow.

For a second he saw that the hallow spear point shone brightly on the inside and suddenly a massive explosion flashed in his vision and a gaping hole was in the place of the Deathstalkers face, the burnt edges of the hole looked indicated that it was hit with some sort of high temperature energy weapon.

The Deathstalker went slack, and the machines pressed on towards the Wyvern. Soon all five were converging on it as it roared and lashed out. Qrow watched as the machines seemed to dance around the Grimm barely staying out of its jaws or tail as they peppered it with energy bolts or shellfire.

However all it took was one mistake, the cobalt machine stepped to the side as the Wyvern slammed its tail down in an effort to crush it. Another Deathstalker came crashing through the trees behind it, unable to turn in time the Deathstalker slammed into it from behind, striking with everything it's got.

One pincer grabbed the joint of the cannon that was attached at its elbow and jabbed at it with its stinger, the luminescent stinger smashed down on it hitting the joint, disabling the gun. The Deathstalker reached up with its other pincer and started to bash the back of the machine denting the armor.

The close combat machine came to the rescues by slamming its energized fist down. The machines punch left a hole caved inwards on the head of the Deathstalker, Qrow could see the area around the wound had bubbled and cracked from the energy as well.

The Grimm Wyvern took this time to move, though not to engage the machines but it started to make its way back to Beacon.

In an effort to slow it down or kill it, the second machine had started to run alongside it, the barrel of its weapon was red from the heat of firing. Qrow watched as the barrel glowed again as energy was built up inside and fired at the Wyvern.

The blast scorched a spot at the base of its neck; with a roar of anger the Wyvern turned and charged the machine. The machine tried to move out of the way at the last second but the Grimm was ready, with surprising speed it grasped the machine by the arm and pulled it up. The sheer unsupported weight caused the arm to rip off.

Falling back down with its energy weapon gone, it could do nothing but await its faith as the Wyvern snatched it up once more with its jaw by the waist. Qrow watched as it crunched down severing the machine at the waist and flinging its legs away.

It continued to stomp forward, the support machine still trailed behind it firing its weapons, with the long legged machine off to the side as well trying to close in on the Wyvern. However after seeing what it had done to its comrade it wasn't keen on closing in at the wrong moment.

However the Grimm was closing in on Beacon once more, options were limited and Qrow reckoned that the machines were going to have to take a very large risk.

Supported by the close combat specialist machine and the cobalt machine, whose cannon was functionally disabled, they charged the Wyvern. Turning to meet the machines charge, the Wyvern turned whipping its tail around to smash the long legged machine.

Raising its shield the tail smashed into the long legged machine and sent it stumbling back to crash amongst some trees and rocks. The close combat machine closed in the gap, heading underneath the tail and smashed its energized gauntlet into the leg of the Grimm. Howling in rage the Wyvern smashed the machine aside with its leg.

Qrow could see that its armor was buckled and sparks were emitting from cracks and torn sections of the armored plating, the machine jerked in place as it tried to stand up. The Grimm raised its foot to finish off the machine, a series of shells came streaking at the Grimm's face, exploding but distracting it enough that it didn't crush the machine.

The long legged machine came charging back in; its shield arm fizzled and pop, the metal frame was charred and torn up. Qrow assumed that taking the hit with the shield saved the machine but at the cost of its shield functionality.

Thrusting its spear skywards at the neck of the Grimm, Qrow watched as a bolt of energy shot out and stuck the Grimm. He could see the spot where it hit fizzle and ooze from the heat slightly, but it petered out. It lowered its head and with a lunge the Grimm smashed its head against the machine and sent it sprawling into the distance nearly a hundred meters away from where it stood.

Qrow flew over the machine and could see that half of its torso was folded in, a bronze face plate starred up into the sky. He could see two green lights that emitted from the eye slits that slowly faded out. The Cobalt machine backed off at that, moving to meet up with the only other operating machine as it continued to fire shells at the Wyvern.

At this point however they must have known that there wasn't anything that they could do to stop it. Qrow turned his attention back to Beacon; the Wyvern continued to advance to the school. Qrow could see packs of Beowolves and Ursa, with the occasional Deathstalker and King Taijitu, Qrow moved with urgency, he needed to find his nieces.

 **Ozpin's Office…**

* * *

Jaune crouched with his shield raised high, as he looked to the distance; he could see the Grimm Wyvern coming closer. The sound of fighting below had dimmed except for the occasional burst of bolter fire, he assumed that the warriors had won, defeating the Bloodletters and Grimm. However he knew that even they couldn't face the Wyvern as it got closer.

The occasional Avenger came screaming through the sky, firing rockets or auto cannon shells at the Grimm but nothing seemed to have any effect. Though the naval ship did have the firepower to go toe to toe with the thing but with the close proximity to the school it seemed the ship master didn't want to risk incurring friendly fire.

His father was still fighting the woman, however he was unable to properly defend or attack due to his glaive still being embedded in the wall behind the woman. The woman was doing her best to keep him from actually going to retrieve it.

Jaune winced as his father took a rock to the chest that was sent fly from another burst of fire, denting his armor a little. The sky overhead continued to swirl, lightning flashed, quickly followed by thunder, the wind brought with it the smell of fire and the sound of death.

Jaune looked down at Pyrrha, she was looking down at her ankle and Jaune could see the look of disgust she was giving it. No doubt she probably was loathing how helpless she was at the moment. All her life she's been a talented and mostly an independent woman but now with an arrow to the ankle she was just a damsel in distress, a hindrance.

There was a grunt of pain and Jaune twisted to see that Alexander had somehow punched the woman in the gut. Once more the look of shock and now the look of pain clouded her face before utter fury took over.

Alexander took that moment to dive past her but in the corner of his eye he could see that her short swords were forming in her hands again. As Alexander tucked into a roll and sprung to his feet he could hear the sound of metal rupturing accompanied by a flash of pain in his side.

Grasp the shaft of his glaive he pulled it out and turned around to see the woman smiling with one sword in hand. He looked down to his left and could see her other short sword sticking out of his side. Grasping the black hilt with a golden gauntlet he slowly pulled it out, the last few inches were slick with blood.

Toss aside the blade Alexander met the eyes of the woman, despite the smile on her face; he knew that she losing patience. A quick glance to the side and he could see the head of the Wyvern coming closer to Beacon as it crested the cliff sides.

He focused back on the woman as she lunged at him with her other sword, spinning his glaive. The blade smashed apart her sword and as he continued spinning it, the blunt side smashed into her side sending her sprawling. However she rolled on impact and came back to her feet, with a wave of her hand several ice shards formed in air.

Alexander cursed as with another wave of her hand; she sent them racing at him. He spun glaive around, smashing four of the icicles but the fifth slipped past. He stumbled back as it smashed into his breastplate, he could feel chips of ice hitting his face as it failed to penetrate, however sixth and seventh followed suit and knocked him onto his back.

The moment his back hit the floor, he immediately rolled to the side as more ice smashed against the floor he had just landed upon. As he got to his feet, he saw that she was on the move again; both of her swords were in hand as she closed in on him.

He spun his glaive and turned to face her, however instead of meeting him blade to blade, she slide on the cracked floor, her swords glowing and reassembling into a bow fully drawn. Alexander gritted his teeth as he felt the arrow smash into his helmet, sending him reeling.

He could feel the dented metal pushing into his cheek, gripping his helmet with one hand; he pulled it off and tossed it aside. The woman stood before him, bow still in hand starring him down. Alexander could not only see the large breathes that she was taking but hear them along with her heart beat as it thundered inside her chest.

"You've fought valiantly Alexander Arc, but this is where it ends." She spoke up suddenly, Alexander tilted his head slightly.

"That's not how I see it." She gave a breathless laugh.

"What you see is irrelevant, you're a toy soldier wound up but with no master." She said, walking slowly towards the edge of the tower. Alexander could see the muscles in her neck and legs tensing, ready to move at a moment's notice, so he couldn't take her by surprise.

"I'd rather be a tool of war with no master, then a blind fool corrupting my soul just for a little bit of power." She snorted at that response.

"Corruption? What do you know of corruption, Arc? The Kingdoms have grown fat off the backs of their people, the more the people suffer, the more they gain out of it."

"Is that what this is about? You've made pacts with infernal powers that you haven't the slightest clue about in some misguided noble attempt to bring justice? You're even more foolish then the White Fang."

"Please I care not for the struggles of those people, if they want to be weak and preyed upon, what right do I have to stop them? As for the White Fang, they're taking what they believe is rightfully theirs, you can't deny them that."

"I can and will deny them; killing and spreading terror in the name of equality and justice is the mark of a foolish brat." She looked over her shoulder briefly flashing an insincere smile.

"Oh I bet Adam would love to hear that, you two should meet sometime." Alexander snorted at that.

"That little shit doesn't know what he really wants, looks more like a love sick puppy mixed with a naïve fanatic." The woman laughed at that, the ground shook a little.

Turning around they could see that the Wyvern had finally reached the top of the cliffs. Jaune starred, his eyes wide in shock and fear, he honestly didn't know how they could fight that thing. Pyrrha grabbed his hand, and he could feel the slight tremor in it.

"We need to get out of here Pyrrha." Jaune said as he looked back at his father, it seemed that he was talking with the woman. He wasn't sure why, but whatever it is, it didn't matter to him, getting out of there alive came first.

"What about your father?" Pyrrha asked Jaune looked her in the eyes and shook his head before she could protest; he put a finger on her lips.

"Pyrrha, I know you wanna help but neither of us is going to be useful, you're the strongest fighter I know that's our age, and you got beaten quite badly, plus Akoúo is missing and Miló is destroyed. We're only going to get in the way." Jaune said Pyrrha screwed her eyes shut as she gritted her teeth and looked away.

"I trust you Jaune, I'm sorry." He nodded; Alexander smiled softly as he heard his son's conversation with his partner. The woman turned to face him, her eyes were glowing once more and fire seemed to engulf her hands, though she showed no signs of discomfort.

"Time is running short Arc, and I have things to do, so while you die here serving a master that no longer exist, I work with the powers that will last forever." Alexander said nothing as he gripped his glaive with both hands.

"Say what you like woman, even if I die here, I die knowing that I served someone out of my own free will than a pathetic little girl who willingly becomes a slave." The woman's eyes flashed with rage, and with a wordless scream she exploded with fire.

Alexander jammed the blunt end of his glaive into the ground to keep from being pushed back by the sudden force of wind. Looking up he could see that the woman was rising off her feet; lightning flashed in the sky and in the distance the Grimm Wyvern gave a diaphragm shaking roar.

With a wave of her hand, black glass shards a meter long formed in the air, with a second wave she sent it flying towards him. He could see her forming another set of short swords, though this time they were coated in flames.

Spinning his glaive he smashed the first few shards out of the air before stepping out of their path, and brought his blade down to meet the first strike of her sword. He pushed the blade away and spun his glaive, smashing the blunt end of her glaive against her forearm, spinning her around. She moved with the momentum and swung her weapon again.

He brought his glaive point down intercepting it, she swung her other weapon, pain flashed from his gauntlet and he looked at his hand to see the tip of a sickle in his hand. With a snarl Alexander forced his hand out and spun the glaive around, knocking her left sword aside with the blade and spinning it around overhead and brought the blade down.

The woman barely managed to bring the sickle up to meet the blade, barely an inch away from her shoulder. He kicked her square in the chest, sending her skidding back on her feet, flames emerged from her palms and she threw them at Alexander who was closing in on her.

He rolled under the first and as he got his feet, and jumped to the side as the second one came streaking at him. The woman amber eyes burst into flames more fires emerged to cover her arms, she jumped at Alexander.

Turning to face her Alexander brought his glaive up ready to defend. His eyes widened as he saw there in her right hand, a long glass spear, and her left a bow. She hurled the spear and quickly brought up her bow nock an arrow and letting it loose, following it up with another arrow as quick as she could before charging him once more with twin short swords.

Alexander stepped aside as the spear got close, and slashed downwards with his glaive shattering the first arrow. However the second arrow slammed into his chest and he could feel the tip poking at his chest again, he reached up to break the arrow but brought the shaft of his glaive to meet the first strike of the woman.

She brought her second sword up but Alexander could move his glaive to meet it, so instead he stepped inside her reach, the tip of the glancing off his armor. She looked up at him, a wicked smile across her face.

"This is where you lose Alexander Arc." He immediately felt an incredibly hot object reach for the torn part of his armor. He realized that it was her hand, she pushed forward into the torn armor and he could feel his armor start to bend from the heat. The tip of her fingers reached the stab wound from before and he could hear the hiss along with the flash of pain as she pushed her fingers into the wound, the smell of burning meat filled his nostrils.

With a yell of fury, he punched her in the face with his free hand, and she flew back hitting a slab of concrete. She looked up at him, and Alexander could see blood on the corner of her mouth and a gash on her cheek. She looked blankly at him, the tower shook, switching his gaze to the outside he saw the Grimm Wyvern in the academy grounds closing in on them.

He looked back at the woman in time to see her lunging at him, a flaming blade raised and only a few inches away. He raised his hands and caught the blade stopping it short; he could feel it slowly cutting into his gauntlets. She smiled wickedly and raised her other hand, a fireball sitting in her palm.

"Goodbye Alexander Arc." She said before she slammed her palm down into his chest.

Jaune watched as his father was engulfed in another explosion like Gordon, only this time the armored form of his father was sent flying into the wall next to them.

Alexander slumped to the floor, his once brilliant golden breastplate was all but tarnished as a hole appeared there and the edges were aglow from the intense heat. Beneath it, Jaune could see the charred meat and bone of his father's chest. The smell of burnt meat invaded his nostrils.

Looking farther up, Jaune cold feel his blood run cold, the bottom half of Alexander's face was marred by burns. His lips were gone revealing blood stained teeth, his cheeks were but gone, a few sinews of burnt tendons, his eyes were closed and Jaune feared the worst. However he could see that his father's chest was rising and falling slightly, he was still alive.

Jaune slide his shield off and placed it in Pyrrha's hands, before she could get a word off, Jaune had taken Crocea Mors in both of his hands as he ran to his father's side.

"Jaune…" Alexander slurred from his ruined mouth, panic evident in his wide eyes. Jaune wasn't focusing on that, he was being delirious from the pain. The tower shook as something heavy latched onto, causing Jaune to stumble a little, the Grimm Wyvern must be scaling the tower now.

He was less than a dozen feet away from his father when logic took hold, and the question of what about the woman popped up. He turned just in time to see a glass shard flying at him, the shard shattered against his breastplate and aura. Immediately he noticed that instead of fading away as normal, the white outline of his aura started to crack and fall away, his aura was gone.

"Jaune! Run!" Pyrrha screamed at him, but before he could do anything a second glass shard smashed into his breastplate, it shattered again but crumpled the once white plate inwards painfully. A third one wasn't far behind, breaking through the plate and impaling Jaune in the chest.

He fell onto his back, a wave of pain like he'd never experience forming in his chest. He gritted his teeth and took deep breaths to keep from yelling in pain, he could vaguely hear Pyrrha calling out to him. The tower continued to shake and a deep rumbling that sort of reminded him of the Chimeras they had ridden in Leflore popped up in his mind.

He raised a shaking hand in front of his face, it was covered in blood, and it took a second for him to realize it was his. The tower continued to shake and suddenly a new presence was there with them, looking up Jaune could see the blood red eyes of the Wyvern looking down at them.

The woman walked forward, her hair was a mess and there blood flowed down her cheek. Her clothes were dirtied and rumpled, but she didn't care, she had won in the name of her master and her goals.

Not only had she initiated the downfall of Beacon, she also had taken the Maiden powers, killing Ozpin in the process. Released the Ancient Wyvern, but now she had Alexander Arc and his son before her, she materialized her bow once more.

Pyrrha watched as the woman stood over the body of Alexander Arc as he wheezed slowly; he looked up at her as she drew an arrow and fired it into his exposed chest. Pyrrha winced as the wheezing from Alexander grew louder and more ragged. The woman smiled and drew another arrow, and took careful aim.

"Any last words?" She mocked as she smiled wickedly at him; Alexander said nothing but raised his right hand. A hole visible from the wound he had taken earlier, and gave her a one finger salute.

"That's no way to speak to a lady." She cooed before firing the arrow into Alexander's throat. Pyrrha watched as Alexander's eye bulged, not in pain or fear but regret. He looked over at Jaune who was starting to turn deathly pale as blood started to pool around him. Pyrrha could feel tears stinging at her eyes as she tried to crawl to his fallen form.

"Jaune…Jaune please wake up!" Pyrrha cried out, fire raced up her leg as she got close to Jaune, tossing aside the shield she couldn't think of what to do. She placed her hand above his mouth, she could feel a shallow breath, she sighed a little, and he's still alive for now.

"Well Champion, it seems that you've failed even more." The cold voice of the woman said above her, Pyrrha looked up and could see the glee that danced across her eyes.

"No words? That's fine; I won't take up much more of your short time." However she didn't get far as the sound of wings could be heard. Pyrrha looked behind her as a woman with large white wings crested in view with a small girl dressed in red and black.

Pyrrha starred at amazement as she realized that the woman was Sanian, she seemed to glow incredibly bright. Sanian frowned at the sight of Alexander's body, her grip on her sword tightened and electricity seemed to dance across the surface.

The Grimm Wyvern gave off a deep rumbled as it seemed to focus its attention on Sanian. Sanian stepped forward energy seemed to bleed off in the form of lightning, scorching the floor around her. Pyrrha shivered as the feeling of violence seemed to emit from the normally sweet and caring woman.

Ruby transformed Crescent Rose and held it at the ready as she starred down the woman; she was the one that caused this mess. All of her friends were getting hurt; the innocent people of Vale were suffering and Penny death. However it took a second to realize that there was something lying at the woman's feet, her heart froze in fear.

"Jaune…" A gentle whisper came from Ruby as she stared at the unconscious form of Jaune as he lay on the floor in his own blood. She looked up from him and could see Pyrrha sitting next to him, an arrow sticking out of her ankle.

In the back the slumped form of Alexander Arc, burned, beaten with a very visible arrow sticking out of his throat and chest, it was too much, far too much.

Pyrrha watched as tears started to stream down Ruby's face and the next thing she knew was a brilliant flash of white light seemed too exploded from her eyes. The woman that stood over her had cried out in outrage, and then there was nothing.

 **3 Days Later…**

* * *

The first thing she noticed was pain, every part of her body hurt, especially her ankle, giving off a dull beat in time with her heartbeat. The next thing was sound; there was the steady sound of a heart monitor off to her right and the dull chatter of distant conversation.

She felt something heavy on the bed with her, flickering her eyes open slightly, the soft glow of artificial light stung Pyrrha's eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw the pale white of synthetic tiles on the ceiling with fluorescent lighting every two tiles. Turning her head slowly to her right she saw the orange hair of Nora Valkyrie.

The girl was soundly asleep on Pyrrha's bed; a soft smile seemed to be on her face as she mumbled something about syrup and Ren. Pyrrha couldn't help but smile a little and with a struggle lifted her hand, placing it on the bubbly girls head. Nora stirred slightly but didn't wake up, someone coughed, Pyrrha turned her head to the direction of the sound, and Ren sat in the corner, a book in his lap with a smile on his face.

"It's good to see that you're better Pyrrha." He said gently, and Pyrrha tried to smile.

"Feels like the morning after Leflore all over again." Ren's face turned a bit more neutral at that.

"I'm sorry Ren; I didn't mean to be so depressing already." He shook his head.

"That's fine Pyrrha; it's good to keep a more sound, logical mind about what's happened." Pyrrha looked up at the lights; she frowned and closed her eyes, doing her best to recall the events of that night. However all she could see was a pair of cold uncaring amber eyes. The beeping from the heart monitor started to increase and Pyrrha could feel her chest start to constrict.

After taking a moment to start inhaling and exhaling at a long and steady pace she was able to calm herself but she could still feel the pinpricks of sweat on her body. She felt a cool hand on her forearm, looking down she could see Nora watching her with undisguised worry written on her face.

"Pyrrha?" Nora asked as she sat up, joy bubbled up on her face and the young hammer wielder pulled Pyrrha forward into a hug.

"Hello Nora." Pyrrha said evenly.

"Pyrrha!" She yelled and started squeezing the young Champion in a tight hug, much to Pyrrha's dismay. Though Ren placed a hand on his partner's shoulder signaling for her to stop crushing Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry, I just got really excited to see you awake." Nora said sheepishly, and Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh a little, a pleasant smile spread across her face. Pyrrha felt like it's been forever since the last time she was able to smile freely like that. However it was short lived as her mind filtered back in the events that she had seen.

"Ren?" The stoic gunman looked down at her, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked meeting his magenta eyes; she could see that they were slightly bloodshot, most likely from a lack of sleep. Ren traded looks with Nora, the shorter girl nodded at him before turning to Pyrrha, a smile wide on her face again.

"I'm going to go and get some food for you Pyrrha, and let the charge nurse know you're awake." Pyrrha nodded back, though internally she was dreading what may come. She's spent a long time mastering fake smiles, and the one that Nora had plastered on her face scared her.

Nora stood up and turned to leave the room, giving Ren one last look before closing the door behind her. Leaving only Pyrrha and Ren in the room, neither of them said anything; the only noticeable sound was the steady beat of the heart monitor still attached to Pyrrha.

Ren took Nora's seat and ran a hand through his hair as he took a deep breath. Pyrrha tilted her head a little as she watched him, it wasn't often that Ren displayed emotions so openly, except when something extremely serious was happening.

So Ren filled Pyrrha in on the fighting that happened after she and Jaune went with Ozpin, about how a purple machine in the service of the Arcs came to their rescue as the Beacon defenders were on their last legs. He told her how Jaune had literally fallen from the sky out of a locker that had soared through the air; she flinched at that knowing she was the one to put him in it.

He went on to talk about how things sort of settled down for them as the purple machine had taken over the brunt of defending. Pyrrha listened intently as Ren described watching the armored warriors come sweeping through the school

He also spoke about how before the tower went fully offline that they could watch her aura slowly fall to nothing; she couldn't meet his eyes at that point. The memories of the fight she had still were fresh in her mind. Knowing that her friends had watched from a far distance as she slowly started to lose was unbearable to think of.

Soon he got to the point of watching the Grimm Wyvern fall from the sky into Forever Fall forest, followed by the arrival of the Arcadian army to take them back to Vale as they fought for control of the school.

"Wait, how did the Wyvern fall? Did the Arcs do something?" Pyrrha asked, in the lull of Ren's recapping.

"I think so but I'm not really sure, the best word I was able to get from some of the soldiers was that they dispatched a naval ship to help Vale and it fought it to a standstill. Though it did supposedly suffer a decent amount of damage itself when it fought the Grimm Wyvern and now it apparently is stationed somewhere over Vale as the base of operations for the reinforcing Arcadian forces." Pyrrha nodded slightly at that, she's not surprised to hear that the Arcs have taken the mantle of responsibility of watching Vale in its time of need.

"Wait, what about Atlas? What does General Ironwood have to say about all of this?" Ren shook his head at that question.

"General Ironwood has his hands full with the decimation of his fleet; only two ships made it out intact, four were destroyed with another mostly crippled by the fighting, along with problem that happened with the Atlas Robots, there have been a number of riots that have broken out over that." Pyrrha frowned, even after the fighting it seemed things weren't going to cool down anytime soon.

"If you don't mind me asking Pyrrha, there's one bit of information that I'm unclear about." Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at that, and looked at the stoic gunman.

"Ask away Ren, I'll try to answer to the best of my ability." A frown took over his face once more, not something that they saw very often on him.

"Pyrrha…what happened at the tower, what was the last thing you remember?" Ren finally asked as he leaned over, elbows on his knees as he starred at Pyrrha. She took a deep breath, once more closing her eyes and thought back to that night.

"Well after I was beaten, the woman who attacked me was about to finish me off when Alexander came to my rescue, the woman turned her complete attention to him and before I knew it they were fighting. If it wasn't for the fact that I may have died at any second, watching Alexander fight was exhilarating, the way he spun his glaive around using both ends continuously to fight with, each strike that was blocked or missed he'd use the momentum to carry over and fight. However she soon got the edge over him, and hit him with a fireball, Jaune who had ridden another locker was by my side the entire time shielding me as he watched his father die, I saw Alexander get hit badly and Jaune tried to go to him but she attack him as well, impaling him with one of her attacks after putting an arrow into Alexander to finish him off. Then Sanian who was glowing brightly with white wings came in with Ruby, and the last thing I remember was an explosion of light and well here I am." Ren listened intently to this, and Pyrrha went quiet as she thought about it. In a flash it struck her as she remember something very important.

"Ren?! What happened to Jaune? Is he alright? Where is he?" Pyrrha asked panic once more flooding her system, the steady beep of the heart machine started to pick up with her.

Nora and a petite woman wearing a white robe that went down to her knees over white pants and black boots. Red buttons went down to her waist until they opened up. Red thread lined the cuffs and collar of the robe, the Arc symbol shone brightly on her right breast.

"Hello Ms. Nikos, it's nice to see you awake, my name is Joyce, and I'll be attending you for now." The woman said but Pyrrha couldn't say anything as she starred at her face, specifically her right eye and temple.

Instead of a normal organic eye Pyrrha saw that it was the lens of a bionic eye, the red light of the bionic was unyielding, a simple shutter closed in from the edges almost as if it was focusing in on her.

"Is something a matter Ms. Nikos?" The woman asked again a smile touching her lips out of amusement; she knew what Pyrrha was looking at.

"Ah, no it's nothing, I'm sorry." The woman laughed as she saw the hint of red touching Pyrrha's cheeks.

"It's alright Ms. Nikos, as far as I understand, there isn't a lot of people who see bionics like this in the Four Kingdoms." The woman said gesturing to her eye as she wrote down something on a clipboard after looking at the machinery that Pyrrha was hooked up too.

"If you don't mind me asking Nurse Joyce, but how did it…happen?" Pyrrha asked tentatively, the nurse just smiled as she put away her pen. She leaned over Pyrrha's leg and removed the sheets to take a look at her bandage ankle.

"It's alright to ask, I don't mind talking about it now, now let me think…it was about four, maybe five years ago, I was attached to an infantry battalion that was sent to a small town called Shiloh, there was a Grimm horde that had managed to break through and the army battalion was tasked with saving them but they took a number of losses themselves. So on a search and rescue sweep with my sisters that were attached to a squad of soldiers we went looking either for wounded soldiers or civilians. However a pack of Beowolves ambushed us and I was unfortunate enough to be at the edge of a claw that took out my eye, my sisters were able to stop the bleeding and I was sent home for augmentics and now I have a brand new eye, that you see here today, anyways I'm done with your check up, you seem to be fine, your aura is replenishing at a faster rate, so you'll be discharged probably later today, any questions?" Pyrrha looked down as she clenched the sheets of the bed as the nurse turned to leave, Ren and Nora stood in the corner of the room silent.

"Actually Nurse Joyce, when I was admitted to here, there should have been another person with me, Jaune Arc, do you know what happened to him?" The nurse turned around, a neutral expression had settled on her once friendly face to the point her real eye looked more artificial than the bionic.

"Mr. Arc is currently unresponsive and is being taken care of for the time being here, however it has been decided that for the time being Mr. Arc will be transferred back to Arcadia for monitoring." Pyrrha felt her heart drop to her stomach, and everything started to swim, the stinging sensation of tears pricked at her eyes. A warm arm slide around her shoulder, Nora brought Pyrrha closer until they were hugging.

At that point she couldn't hold it in any longer, tears started to stream down from her eyes and she cried softly into Nora's shoulder. Ren turned away from his teammate crying, he knew how she felt, when Nora and him were both informed of his state. Nora had immediately shut down, and Ren comforted her for the rest of that day as she kept saying over and over, how she could have helped them but failed.

Though Ren didn't suffer openly like the two of them had, it still hurt to know that Jaune might not wake up anytime soon, or ever for that matter. He opened the door to the room; the nurse following him out to give the two girls privacy, the nurse immediately went down the hall, but waiting outside was Lilly Arc.

She was wearing a simple black coat that hung open to reveal a white shirt underneath, though Ren could see the edge of a black handle sticking out slightly from under the coat. The white shirt was tucked into black military fatigues, which in turn were tucked into black polished shin high boots.

"Is she awake?" She asked, Ren simply nodded as Lilly sighed and ran a hand over her hair.

"Does she know?"

"Pyrrha knows what I know, and pretty much what everyone that isn't you knows." Ren said simply, Lilly placed a hand over her heart in mock indignation.

"Are you saying that I don't care for Jaune?"

"I never said anything like that, what you're thinking is what you believe to know but not necessarily true."

"There's a great many things I know that I do not share with you, and for good reasons too."

"Good for who exactly? Yourself? The Arcs? Arcadia?" Before Ren knew it Lilly was inches away from him with a thin blade aimed at his eye.

"I'd be careful Lie Ren, I've had a long day and had to say goodbye to a very dear friend, so just because you're Jaunes doesn't mean I will go easy on you if you fucking piss me off. But go ahead, you can ride and prance that so called high horse of morality all you want but what I do is not just for the good of my people but for everyone else as well, Alexander Arc shared knowledge and information with your leaders and look where that lead to. Thousands are dead, your school is in ruins, and there is still Grimm loose in the city, along with Daemons that are slaughtering anyone in their path before we're able to stop them. That's not evening going into the casualties that Arcadia has suffered in trying to not only stop the bleeding but clear out the infection as well in your lands, and to top it all off Alexander is dead and his only son could be on his way as well. So excuse me, if I don't feel like playing along with your bullshit." She stepped away and tucked the blade into a sheath before sliding it into the waist band of her pants. Ren said nothing as she walked away; he was left standing in the empty hallway listening to the steady clack of Lilly's boots echo.

 **1 Day Later…**

* * *

Pyrrha limped out of the hospital, it was situated in downtown Vale, and as she looked around she took in the damage that was wrought on the city. Here and there she could see walls of stores and buildings that were riddled with bullet marks or blood.

Arcadian soldiers surprisingly enough were helping the people of Vale clean up as well, despite what's happened to the city the mood was a lot more pleasant than what she thought it might be.

Looking back up at the hospital, Pyrrha focused on the top floor, which was where Jaune was being kept. She had gone up there to see him but when she had gotten off the elevator; she was greeted by a trio of warriors from the Sisterhood. She was promptly turned away by the warriors who stated only verified Arcadian personnel were allowed past that point.

With a heavy sigh she walked up the street, she was given directions by Joyce on where the Beacon staff and students were staying at, which was uptown.

"Whoa…that's Pyrrha Nikos." A voice said off to the side, and Pyrrha looked from the corner of her eye to see a group of men and women looking at her. Before she knew it, she was surrounded by people congratulating her and thanking her for her hard work. She just stared confused at all of them, they looked so happy and thankful but she didn't know why.

"Alright let's break it up now, you're obstructing the streets!" A male's voice called out and the people surrounding Pyrrha started to disperse. Though the general murmur of excitement was still in the air, she looked around to see who called out and saw a soldier in full combat gear was waving at her.

He was dressed in the standard battle dress for Arcadian infantry, a black matte hard shell armor plate that covered almost his entire torso with pauldrons extending out. On his arms were black elbow guards and from there a black hard shell forearm guards extending down to the top of the hands.

Black webbing lined the soldier's waist with a black cross draw vest on top filled with whatever gear that Arcadia gave their soldiers. Strapped to his right thigh was a holster for his side arm and a covering his knees and shins was a black hard shell shin guard.

Pyrrha smiled politely at the soldier, though she couldn't see their face, the black tinted visor of the full face helmet obscured the features. The soldier reached up and pulled the helmet off, and revealing that it was actually Brin Arc, Pyrrha's smiled turned genuine.

"Hello Brin, it's a pleasure to see you again." She called out, stepping towards him.

"Hello Pyrrha, I'm glad to see you're out of the hospital now." He said as she got closer to him, Pyrrha nodded slightly.

"Yes, I was just discharged a little earlier, I tried seeing Jaune but the Sisterhood turned me away." Pyrrha said with a slight frown, Brin nodded with a more neutral expression and looked to the sky.

"Can't really say or do much for you there Pyrrha, I don't have any jurisdiction to command the Sisterhood unless they're specifically placed in my chain of command or piggybacking on a mission with me." Brin said as the two continued walking up the street, the occasional person would cheer for Pyrrha upon recognizing her.

Apparently her normal attire needed repairs also, so Nora had dropped off sneakers, blue jeans, a black shirt and an oversized flannel. Though Pyrrha had smiled upon recognizing that it was one of Jaune's flannels, she could still imagine the warmth it would have if he had just worn it.

"Say Brin, would it be out of question if I asked Sanian or Lilly if I can go back to Arcadia with them since they want to take Jaune back there?" Brin quirked his head slightly at that question and made a gentle hum as he thought about it.

"Maybe but I'd go to Sanian first if you wanna have a chance of going, I think Lilly is a bit frustrated with the Four Kingdoms at the moment."

"Why?"

"Ah well it seems that she's blaming them for not taking heed of Alexander's experience and information and pushing us aside so that they can take the glory of it, what that means I'm not sure, but I can't blame her for being upset about the death of Alexander, he was a good leader and a better man than we could have ever hoped for in this world." Pyrrha stayed silent, she wasn't sure what to say to that, ultimately it wasn't her place to say anything about Alexander Arc.

Neither of them spoke as Brin walked with Pyrrha, though occasionally he would be stopped by a soldier or would stop a soldier himself and have a quiet conversation with them. Pyrrha didn't say anything but it was a bit refreshing not to be swarmed by the soldiers like she would with other people from the Kingdoms.

Which brought up the question of why it seems that people were more enthusiastic about seeing her? She had asked Brin that question but he just shrugged, that sort of thing wasn't his concern.

"Pyrrha!? Is that you?" A male's voice asked from behind, and Pyrrha turned to Blake and Sun walking together, both of them looked shocked to see her.

"Hello Sun, hello Blake, nice to see you two again." Pyrrha said sheepishly soon the three teens were talking, well mostly Sun was talking and Pyrrha answered while Blake just stood there. Brin took that as the time to leave and turned to see a man standing at the corner of the street looking at him.

Brin bid his farewells to the teens and walked across the street, the red eye man nodded at him and soon they both fell into step with each other.

"Is there something you need Mr. Branwen?" The man held up his hands a small smile of satisfaction at the slight tone of exasperation in Brin's voice.

"Please call me Qrow, Mr. Branwen was my father, and I thought we could have a nice little chat."

"Then say what you have on your mind Huntsman, I have things to do."

"Fine, my first question is to know what the overall plan is for the Arcs here. Is this gonna become some Military occupation for the safety of the civilians or some other bullshit?" Brin snorted at that.

"Please, we're just here to clean up the mess, after the Army Battalion commanders and the Sisterhood give the all clear, we're gonna pull out."

"What about the Wyvern, you've got Beacon sealed off and we can hear the fighting." Qrow asked as they turned a corner and stood in front of a tall building that was housing the displaced Beacon staff and students. Qrow could see Oobleck and Port standing outside of the main entrance chatting with each other, though their weapons were close at hand.

"The Sisterhood is dealing with that." Qrow sneered slightly.

"That's all you're gonna tell me? That the Sisterhood is dealing with that?"

"What do you want me to say? The fucking Wyvern is drawing more and more Grimm to it, so yes, the Sisterhood is dealing with it, and Sanian is more than capable of dealing with it." Brin snapped at Qrow, he slipped his helmet back over his head, all Qrow could see was his own reflection in the helmet's visor. There was a small crackle of a radio being turned on from inside the helmet and Brin's voice came out.

"Some parting advice for you Qrow, if the Enemy find out about Ruby's powers, she's going to be in danger, more so than you can ever prepare for." With those final words Brin left Qrow standing there as he contemplated his words.

 **1 Week Later…**

* * *

Pyrrha woke with a startled gasp, sweet coated her body and feeling the damp mattress underneath her, she's been sweating for a while. She slowed her breathing and slowly looked around the room; it was still dark outside, though the occasional soft boom of munitions could be heard in the distance like thunder.

At this point no one really paid attention to the sound of warfare. They've heard reports from passing army units that Sanian Arc had finished her main task at Beacon with the Sisterhood and help of local Army Regiments. Though why they were still keeping the students and staff of Beacon out was up to interpretation.

Fox had said that the Arcadian forces were battling the lingering packs of Grimm and Daemons that had fled to the surrounding areas.

Glynda Goodwitch, now Headmistress of Beacon would occasionally stop by to talk with Pyrrha, it was interesting to talk with her. Thought Pyrrha felt it was just her way of trying to apologize for asking her to be their Fall Maiden and thus easing herself of some sort of guilt.

This brings up the nightmares that seem to be flooding her dreams now; sometimes she would be standing on a deserted road fighting three people.

Though she could never see their faces, every time she looked at their faces it was nothing but a distorted image, rendering it impossible to see who they were. The dream would always end with her on her knees and a woman who seemed so familiar standing over her with a white gloved hand held up in front of her face.

The other dream was one that she was all too familiar with. It was the night of the attack and she was in Ozpin's office atop of Beacon Tower. She had just finished fighting the woman once more, and just like in reality she lost to her once again, an arrow crippling her, Miló and Akoúo gone. However what was different about this scene was the fact that she wasn't the first one to go up there.

Pinned to the wall by his hands was Jaune, his armor was ruined and blood was leaking out of his mouth. He would always look up at Pyrrha, an unimaginable amount of blood would burst out of his mouth from a ragged coughing fit and he would plead to Pyrrha, asking her to put him out of his misery. His eyes would be ragged sockets of destroyed flesh, leaving trails of blood like tears down his cheeks.

She would always tear up and tell him to be strong, that she would free him and get him medical help so that they can be together. He would always smile at those words but the woman would smile as well and turn around, swiftly putting another arrow into him. Alas she never aimed for a vital spot, vying to keep him alive as long as possible.

Soon her words would have no effect in keeping his spirit up, and his face would turn from love and devotion to hatred. He would curse her with all his might, saying he rues the day that they ever met and regretting choosing her over Ruby. As he berates Pyrrha in a fit of anger and resentment, the woman would finish him off by putting an arrow through his chest.

She would then turn to look down at Pyrrha, a cruel smile on her lips as she readied another arrow at Pyrrha, and that was always the last thing she saw before waking up.

"Shit." Pyrrha whispered to herself, and threw her covers off her and silently plodded out the room that the remaining members of team JNPR were staying in. The hallway was only illuminated by a few sparse lights, even then they were turned down in case of any half sleepy occupants that may go into the hallways.

"Can't sleep?" A voice asked softly from behind and Pyrrha nearly yelled in surprise, she turned around to see Sanian Arc standing behind her a soft but tired smile on her face. Pyrrha could see the telltale signs of bags under her eyes. She wore a loose white shirt that was tucked into a pair of skinny jeans with a pair of slightly untied black military boots.

"Kind of, though it seems like you haven't been getting much sleep as well Sanian." Pyrrha replied, she just chuckled slightly and soon the two women were walking down the hall together.

"Well I've been busy leading my Sisters into battle against the Enemy, why should I, as the commander, be resting in a nice cot while my soldiers died?" Pyrrha didn't say anything but when Sanian didn't continue she realized that she was really asking a question.

"Oh, well as the commander, aren't you also needed to be in a proper shape to command them as a whole."

"But why can't the field commanders be able to coordinate with each other to effectively mount a proper defense or attack?"

"Well they have their own responsibilities to attend to, so they need to focus on the tinier details that are in front of them, not the ones that they can't see, and while it is important for on the field commanders to be able communicate with each other it would take more time away from the actually fight, which is where the overall commander can come into play, your job is to look at the big picture, the field commanders just need to make sure that they win the fight they're in now and the one that's gonna come directly after. Whereas the overall commander must think about the needs of their sub commanders several battles before they need it." Sanian smiled at as Pyrrha finished talking, the younger girl started to blush as she realized that she was being stared at.

"Am…am I wrong?" Pyrrha asked shyly, Sanian laughed once more.

"No, Pyrrha you gave me a good answer, anyways how are things going for you recently?" Pyrrha mulled it over for a second.

"Well it's been okay I guess, especially considering what happened, Vale seems to have gotten back to normal mostly, though I can still see the damages done in certain areas where it seemed the fighting was heaviest. I also try visiting Jaune whenever I can but I get turned away every time and you wouldn't happen to know why the public has a new interest in me no one else seems to know also or if they do, they won't tell me."

"Ah, well the thing about Jaune is just a precaution but I'll be expanding on that another time, as for the new attention, well that's mostly Ironwoods and the Vale Council's doing. They decided to use you are the reason that the Wyvern was defeated, Ruby's powers are something that need to be looked into, which I will do myself." Pyrrha's eyes opened in shock.

"Wait, they're using me as a publicity tool?" Pyrrha wasn't sure if she should be mad or not but Sanian place a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not really like that, think of it more as a symbol, you're already well known, along with that the people needed a hero or symbol to look up too so you were picked and for what it's worth I didn't want that to happen either. However you're helping the people of Vale cope with what's happened to them, if they were to become even more distraught, it would only serve to cripple them by drawing more Grimm. So I know you may not want it, but it's for the best." Pyrrha nodded slightly at that, she was beginning to understand the reason why governments lied to the people about things like this.

"As for Jaune, that's kind of why I'm here…" Pyrrha whirled around and gripped Sanian's arms.

"What about him? Is he awake? Is he okay? Can I see him?" Pyrrha asked fervently.

"No, he's still a coma but after taking some time to think, I've decided to let you come."

"What?"

"I want you to come to Arcadia."

* * *

 **Oh there folks, sorry about the long wait, I was so giddy about finally going off the rails of the Canon RWBY story that I had a lot of stuff to go over with in terms of my own ideas.**

 **Anyways I'mma paraphrase my response to Shashenka who left a comment last Chapter.**

The canonical points of the story was something I was always going to stick to for a short time that is, Jaune may be the biological son of a Saint and Custodes, spoiler if you haven't realized that, but he doesn't have their strengths or skills, those don't translate genetically very well, he's different sure when his aura is unlocked but having muscle and size wouldn't make you a better fighter. Hence why he's shitty at combat and still doesn't have a lot of confidence so subsequently gets bullied by Cardin.

He also has no mastery over his aura like Ren or semblances that bolster fighting power like Yang, Nora, and Pyrrha, nor does he have intricate semblances like Weiss Glyphs or Ruby's speed.

Grimm are in fact pretty easy pickings in certain numbers, the Infantry in Leflore were able to handle the Grimm fine it was the Daemons that proved a problem, however we also don't know how many Grimm are actually on the planet, in RWBY Volume 4 we see Beowolves being born at a steady pace from the black pools, and that was only in a small area, imagine hundreds of holes spawning new Grimm every 30 to 60 seconds. So the reason why Arcadia struggles to grow is because it's difficult to capture land if you're forced to be fighting a walking war.

It's the same with Atlas in the canon universe also, send in soulless drones to clear an area and move people in should be simple right, but that doesn't seem to be the case the territories are still relatively small.

Now why is it that the Sisters die at a faster rate while Qrow walks out fine, well in part it's because of his semblance, as said in Volume 4 he can't control it, it always is active. Plus Neo seems to be a fairly adept fighter, one who isn't afraid to making killing moves so it's reasonable for them to die. Plus he's still a very experienced Huntsman, and someone who has abilities that even the Sisters would not have.

As for Grimm think of it like this, it's easy to fight someone in a one on one match, a trained fighter maybe two on one, however ultimately numbers will wear you down, lets take a 40k example a few Hormagaunts against a Sister of Battle with a fully load bolter will get blow apart by the mass reactive rounds but throw a couple of dozen, she will die, even a Space Marine would succumb to them if given enough bodies are thrown at him, the principle is applied here in that sense but with Grimm, who like the Tyranids come in various forms.

As for Daemons, the initial fight for Beacon showed that numerous students did not fair well against them despite the aid of aura. The same can be said for the Sisters later on in Vale when Qrow gets into another fight with Bloodletters, Qrow himself isn't someone who would actually beat a Bloodletter in a pure strength to strength fight.

There's also another factor that you may not have picked up on, you say that the Sisters are the Huntsman equivalent but what is the key thing that Huntsman have that help them fight?

As for Ozpin, it's a mutual agreement that they've made, the Arcs can have their presence in Vale if they're subservient to the Vale Council and by extension Ozpin. So no matter how much Alexander may dislike how things are done, the agreement is already been settled upon, it's why he's unable to change Ozpin's mind on picking Pyrrha, his house, his rules. However at the same time, the Arcs did have a limited operational room in being able to investigate Vale for Roman's employer and trace back all the information about it. Not only that it would be difficult to hide a camp of a thousand Sisters from the eyes of both Vale and Ozpin, Arabella says that she's stationed her warriors in the forest in Ozpin's office with him there, Ozpin is okay with Alexander moving all those troops in and around Vale, he just doesn't want it to truly come down to having to use them. Think back to what he said to Ironwood in Volume 3 about Ironwood's Fleet, if the people see this big army the question and fear of what they're expecting to fight is only going to make things worse.

As for International Incidents, Alexander is the High Lord or Ruler of Arcadia, his word is law, plus he doesn't care as much as you may think, he's still the product of a time when millions are dying every day across a galaxy in war.

 **Also I've been thinking about it, but does anyone wanna Beta some chapters in the future?**

 **I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, if not well, not much I can do about that other than be better next time.**

 **Welp, I'll see ya'll around next chapter, remember to leave a comment, review or PM me if there's anything you liked, or didn't like or if you just wanna make a comment or suggestion.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

There was a soft but incessant beeping coming from somewhere, he didn't know where but if it didn't shut up, Qrow was pretty sure he was gonna fling it out the nearest window. He turned to his nightstand and slapped his hand down hitting the alarm of his bed side clock.

"Mmmm what time is it?" A sleepy voice asked from his left, and he turned his head to the voice. Sehra was sleeping next to him naked, her arm draped over his chest. For a second her tranquil face and red hair brought up another's face but he hastily shook that memory off and looked back at the clock.

"Half past nine." Sehra's eyes shot open at that.

"Fuck, did you just say half past nine!?" She asked as she shot up from the bed, Qrow found himself slightly distracted by the bounce of her breasts. Before she got off the bed she noticed him look and with a coy smile grab him with one hand.

"Maybe next time big boy." Qrow just smiled and shook his head as Sehra raced into his shower; he pulled the covers off and swung his legs over the side of his bed.

"Say what's with the big hurry!?" He called out as he stood up and walked around gathering his clothes and slipping on his pants. His scroll was flashing a tiny blue dot, and he opened it, it was a message from Sanian. She was informing him ahead of time of the major withdrawal of Arcadian forces in Vale and Beacon over the coming week.

Though there was a stipulation of a contingent with a Mechanicum Artisan and enginseers along with an escort to aid in the reconstruction of Beacon and Vale. Along with an Arcadian Army battalion to be stationed in the Forever Fall forest, which are independent of Valean, Atlas and Beacon jurisdiction

Sanian also mentioned that she sending Jaune Arc along with his friends to Arcadia, as well as Blake Belladonna.

Though from what he heard the Sentinel girl that was attached to Jaune intervened when she caught Blake trying to run away. Qrow knew she was the only one to accept their invite in a reluctant sense, as for the rest of team RWBY.

Ruby was still unconscious, and Yang was still coming to terms with her missing arm. Though Qrow was planning on going to Patch and check up on Tai, after he saw Sehra off for her deployment that is.

The Schnee Heiress was taken back to Atlas a few days after the battle was over and the first full reports of the chaos leaked to the world.

Even now the Cross Continental Transmit System was down and only Atlas military grade communications and Arcadian Army Vox traffic was operating in a reasonable manner. Though now with the heiress gone, team RWBY was functionally nonexistent.

Qrow sighed as he looked into the corner of his room; leaning against the wall was Ozpin's cane. He had snuck into the Vault to look for Ozpin a few nights ago, sadly the only thing he could find was his cane. With another sigh, Qrow cracked his neck and went about to getting ready for the day; it also marked the day in which Sehra was also to leave Vale for redeployment now that Arcadia was pulling out of Vale.

With Alexander gone, Arcadia has apparently for the time being set forth into deploying its available strength into the Outlands to scour any Grimm or Daemon packs that may linger around Vale. Or on the continent of Sanus as a whole, though there was talk that Arcadia may deploy more military assets around the world, but that was just a rumor.

"Qrow?" Sehra asked from behind him and he turned to see Sehra dressed in black military fatigues, curiosity etched across her face, her red hair still slightly damp from her shower.

"It's nothing." He said and she raised an eyebrow in confusion before crossing over to him and wrapping her arms around him.

"Don't worry Qrow, I won't be gone for long and before you know it we'll be sitting together with a good drink." Sehra said with a quick wink and pat of Qrow's ass, as she picked up a duffel bag that she had put together the night before. Qrow just chuckled as they left his apartment.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Pyrrha sat on the rooftop of the apartment complex that was given to house the first year students of Beacon. Looking down at the streets she could see the green hair of Oobleck talking to golden mane of Glynda Goodwitch. She had come by earlier to talk with Pyrrha and the remaining members of team JNPR about going with the Arcs.

Mainly to inquire why they wanted to go and Pyrrha was honest when she said that she'd rather stay by Jaune's side than continue her life as it were. Of course Ren and Nora were adamant in that belief as well, Pyrrha was prepared for Goodwitch trying to stop them by talking them out of it.

Instead she simply told them the classes would be resuming in a few months. She also told them that she believed that Jaune would rather see them trying to be the best that they can be rather than sit around and gather dust waiting for him.

She was right, but that didn't mean that Pyrrha liked it. Though she couldn't help but feel giddy now that she was invited along with Nora, Ren and even Blake to accompany the Arcs. Though she wasn't sure why Blake was coming with them, she'd figure that she'd stay in Vale with Sun or visit Yang and Ruby.

"Hey kid." A gruff voice spoke up from behind, and Pyrrha snapped her head behind her to see Qrow Branwen standing behind her, putting his ever present flask away. How did he get up there with her, she would have heard the door opening?

"Oh, hi Mr. Branwen, is there something you need?" Qrow just shook his head and stepped forward next to her and sat down. He didn't say anything, opting instead to looking into the distance towards the sea as dozens of Bullheads flew back and forth between the clouds overhead.

If Pyrrha had to describe how the gruff alcoholic man appeared, he seemed a bit more remorseful. Something that was very different than what he had first appeared to be like when they first met in Ozpin's office, when the former Headmaster had told Pyrrha a very surprising secret. He took out his flask once more and took a swig from it, before smacking his lips slightly and putting it away.

"So kid, do you hate us?" This caused Pyrrha to blink where did that come from.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Do you hate us for showing what we've showed you and you nearly dying cause of it?" Pyrrha thought for a moment, looking up at the sky as she did.

"I guess part of me wants to hate you, all those secrets and lies to keep the truth hidden didn't go very well for you or for anyone else for that matter, you tried to keep it in a nice little package but you knew that the enemy weren't going to play by your rules. Yet Ozpin wanted to try and make them play by his rules without actually doing anything, that's where he failed, and instead of enlisting the help of the people who weren't apart to Kingdom politics or nationalism and could and have made a big difference, you gave it to Ironwood." Qrow nodded along as he let Pyrrha let go of her thoughts, the brief thought of letting her take a sip from his flask, flashed in his mind but he knew that was probably a bad thing.

"To top that off, just as I was happy with where I was and you pulled me into this mess and asked me to abandon my friends, abandon Jaune, and ultimately abandon my happiness to help fix your mistake Mr. Branwen." Pyrrha said frowning at Qrow as she said that last part, he just quirked his eyebrow and shrugged as he took another sip of his flask.

"Say what you want kid, but we did what we thought was right, not for ourselves or to cover up the fact that I fucked up in saving Amber when she most needed it, but ultimately it was to protect everyone, including the Arcs. So while it's true that they were the ones to bring the Battle for Beacon to an end, the causalities they suffered along with losing Alexander in the end means that this was nothing but a Pyrrhic victory." Qrow said, internally he couldn't help but laugh a little at what he said. Pyrrha was still frowning at him and he couldn't care less.

"So now that we've gotten out of the way, if the time ever comes when we encounter that woman again."

"Cinder Fall."

"What?"

"Her name is Cinder Fall apparently, I didn't actually know that but Blake was able to tell me about it since her and her team fraternized with them a lot right before the festival." Qrow just shrugged.

"As I was saying, if the chance of facing against the woman ever happens again and you were in a position to beat her, would you do it?"

"You mean would I try getting the Maiden powers if that was a possibility."

"Essentially, yea."

"No."

"No?"

"I'm not interested, I don't want to be forced to be alone because you don't trust people, and I don't want to see what I saw again, while it felt so regal, powerful, wise, and just awe-inspiring. It felt like a lonely life, one that I don't think I'm strong enough to handle especially now." Pyrrha stood up, and started to head back inside but stopped as she gripped the handle of the door.

"One last thing." Qrow turned to face the redhead champion.

"There are more than just two gods to worry about." Qrow frowned as Pyrrha left him on the rooftop alone.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Pyrrha stood over her bed going over a mental checklist of all the things she might need. Spare clothes, medical supplies, nonperishable food, matches, rope, several heavy blade throwing knives. She had bought them after the Sentinel, Anna, had started to teach Pyrrha how to throw knives.

It was interesting to learn and she was making leaps and bounds with it. Though it did help with the fact that she could use her semblance in assisting her accuracy, most would just attribute it to the fact that she was a champion fighter.

Next to the set of knives was a black single edge kopis sword, with a slightly curved bone white handle the Arc emblem was burned into the sides. Sanian had been the one to give it to her both as a gift and temporary replacement of Miló.

Which the three pieces lay between it and Akoúo, the points of breakage were distorted by the heat that Cinder had applied to it. Akoúo on the other hand was in better shape overall aside from a few new scratches in the surface and the edge being chipped a little, the shield was returned to Pyrrha a few days after she had woken up.

Apparently the shield had actually fallen off the tower when she had thrown it and Anna had gone to find it for her.

As the memories of that night flashed in Pyrrha's mind she couldn't help but feel guilt and anger, not at Cinder for what she had done but at herself. Had she been stronger she would have been able to put up a better fight and help Alexander fight off Cinder.

She would have been able to protect Jaune, but she failed, Alexander is dead and Jaune close to death as well.

Someone placed a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder and for a second the sight of Cinder lifting her chin up before aiming an arrow at her flashed in her mind. With a startled cry both out of fear and anger, Pyrrha pulled one of the throwing knives into her hand and whirled around ready to stab the person.

However she stopped mid swing as she realized that Nora was the one who was behind her, not an enemy but her friend.

Nora starred wide eye at the blade in Pyrrha's hand, tears began to sting at her eyes and she let go of the knife, letting it clatter to the floor. Nora quickly pulled Pyrrha into a hug as the tears spilled down her cheek.

"I…I…I'm sorry…" Pyrrha chocked out as Nora's arms wrapped around her, Nora could feel her heart break at seeing Pyrrha cry once more.

"Hey now, it's fine Pyrrha, I'm the one who startled you, my bad." Nora whispered trying to play it off as some happy accident, but Pyrrha shook her head.

"No it's not fine Nora; I was going to hurt you if I hadn't stopped."

"Its fine Pyrrha, believe me I'm okay." She could feel the champion shaking, and Nora was at a loss for words, this sort of stuff was Ren's department of expertise.

She still remembered that faithful night so many years ago in what he did to help her cope with the attack. Nora steeled herself since Ren wasn't there; it was her job to give comfort to Pyrrha as she struggled with this time of her life.

Outside their room a certain cat Faunus stood in the hallway, her ears twitching as she heard the soft sobs of Pyrrha.

"Blake you alright?" Sun asked as he turned around to see the wide eye shock on Blake's face, his face shifting from his normal jovial self to a sterner visage that looked alien to see on an otherwise carefree person. Blade just smiled sadly, her body felt heavy and all she wanted to do was sleep.

"I'm just tired Sun, just so tired." Concern touched Sun's face as he stepped closer, his hand reaching a little but he let it drop instead.

"What can I do to help?" Blake looked up at him, a smile once more touched his face but she could see the concern in his eyes. Part of her wanted to shove him away, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel grateful for him.

She knew that she could be a pain in the ass towards people, especially strangers but he always stuck by her, whether by stubbornness or stupidity she doubt she could ever shake him from her life.

She'd even bet money that if she had been successful in leaving Vale after the battle, he'd somehow manage to find her.

"Sun?" She spoke up suddenly and Sun met her eyes once more.

"Wanna come with me on a trip?" A grin split across his face from ear to ear, and he flashed her thumbs up.

"I'd love too." She rolled her eyes, but Sun could see the faint blushing on her cheeks, and felt elated. So the two turned around to go back to their respective rooms and gather their belongings for the trip.

"Wait…Where are we going?"

* * *

 **A Few Days Later…**

Pyrrha, Nora and Ren stood before a black Bullhead, the golden emblem of the Arcs painted on the side, all around them men and women of the Arcadian Army were packing up material into Bullheads. Or getting into Bullheads themselves to go wherever it was that they were going, none of them knew what really to do.

A soldier who had escorted them there had told them to wait further instruction but no one else had come by so far. More than a few soldiers had eyed them with curiosity at why they were there but no one had actually asked what they were doing there.

"I'm so excited to see Arcadia!" Nora squealed next to them as the hyperactive girl bounced on the tips of her toes. She wasn't dressed in her regular outfit, while overall it was the same there were a few noted differences, but the biggest would be that she was now wearing a blue-black bomber jacket.

Ren's outfit was in a sense was the same color; he now wore a green sleeveless tail coat with a black sleeveless turtle neck underneath. With black calf high opened toed shoes, Nora had claimed that it was kind of silly because his toes could still get hurt and would get cold as winter rolled in.

Pyrrha had for the most part wanted to keep her outfit but it was far too worn out, the leather top was now loose in the stitching and the bronze cuisses and greaves were too pitted and bent to be useful. She kept the bronze circlet and the sash along with the bronze plate that had her emblem carved into it, though she didn't wear any of that now except her circlet.

Now she just wore a loose red and black flannel with a black V-neck shirt underneath. Going with that, Pyrrha wore a pair of black Arcadian military fatigues with matching boots that she had gotten from Brin. Akoúo was strapped to the side of her duffel bag, along with it was the sword that Sanian had lent her. However the one oddity of Pyrrha's outfit was the white and gold of Crocea Mors strapped to her waist.

Now that she thought about it, having Crocea Mors on her might be what's drawing the attention of more than a few glares from soldiers and support staff. She wasn't aware of how well known Jaune was to the rest of Arcadia or Crocea Mors but surely word must have spread about how she was the one that Sanian saved from the top of Beacon Tower while Alexander was dead.

"I won't lie; it will be very interesting to see another nation that's previously been considered dead or fake for decades." Ren said as he brushed his hand through his hair, lately it seemed to have grown longer, and for some reason the magenta streak on the left side had stayed the same.

Pyrrha was never able to understand how it stayed like that, he never used any hair coloring product, and the most likely explanation was that Nora was the one who did it. There was a fair bit of speculation that Nora's real semblance was the ability to defy all reason, science or reality, no one was sure.

Looking over at the bubbly girl, Pyrrha did a double take when she saw her holding four wooden miniatures that were carved and painted to look like them.

When and how did she get those, Pyrrha will never understand.

"It's a shame that Blake and Sun decided not to come with us though I suppose it's nice that Blake wanted to see her home again, didn't actually think she lived in Menagerie, I would have thought that she lived in Vale if anything." Pyrrha said as she covered her eyes from a gust of wind that was kicked up by a passing Bullhead.

"Be that as it may, I'm glad that she didn't just up and vanish on her own, I'm sure her team would be distraught to hear about no one knowing where she had run off too after the battle." Ren said evenly, Nora looked up towards the sky.

"What about the Ice Princess, do you think she's getting any information back in Atlas, I saw her old man, and he didn't exactly look like a super caring father." Pyrrha hummed a little at that, she wasn't awake when Weiss was taken away but from all eyewitness accounts and the things she's heard about the SDC she could believe that.

"I also wouldn't be surprised if Yang isn't her usual self now either." Ren said, before the mood dropped anymore, the whine of machine servos came from behind them and the three teens looked to see a very familiar face.

"Saul!" Nora cried out in both surprise and joy, jumping at the warrior the large man laughed a little as he caught the bubbly girl. Pyrrha couldn't help but given him a look over, his purple armor was a lot cleaner than the last time she saw him.

As she thought about it, the last time any of them had spoken to the warrior was when he sent them away in the airfields outside of Leflore.

"Hello children, it's nice to see you all again." The old warrior spoke, though it sounded a little hoarse more than usual.

"Sheesh Saul have you been eating sand?" Nora asked brazenly, Pyrrha stared wide eye at the hammer wielder ready to tell her to apologize but Saul just laughed.

"Aye it would seem like that but no, let's just say smoking is a bad thing to do." Nora frowned in thought.

"Sure, but wouldn't your aura be able to negate the effects?" Saul just shook his head once more.

"I'll tell you about it another time, now!" He clapped his hands together, the two metal gauntlets making a loud clang that was reminiscence of gun fire.

"Come children, get on the Bullhead, you're gonna see something you'll remember for the rest of your lives." Saul said Pyrrha and Nora both moved towards the Bullhead as a crew member opened the side door for them. Ren stood back watching the two women of his team talking amongst themselves.

"How is she holding up?" The deep timbre of Saul's voice came from above him and Ren looked up to see an emotionless mask had slipped over the warrior's face.

"She's having nightmares." Saul grunted a little at that, though whether out of indifference or empathy Ren wasn't sure.

"Not many can stomach the sight of death so well at such an age, even those that do, do not come back the same." Ren nodded at this.

"Me and Nora have been doing what we could to keep her together, I tend to accompany her in the day when necessary and Nora had pushed her bed together with Pyrrha's that way she's literally in arms reach."

"It's good that you're there for her, though I suspect if Jaune hadn't been wounded she might be fairing a lot better."

"Not to mention Alexander's death, I wouldn't be surprised if she's beating herself up about that." Saul sighed at that.

"There isn't much to do about that, people die in war all the time, and even now the paths you're going down as huntsmen and huntresses have its own share of hardships that would no doubt leave its scars."

"What about you? Does death and violence not affect you in a way?" Saul simply shook his head, a sad smile on his face that made him seem far older than what he should be.

"That is not the case; I was made to be a warrior, a taker of life, a harbinger of destruction, an angel of death." Saul said simple as he gestured to the aircraft and Ren simply stepped forward. Nora and Pyrrha were already seated, across from them several soldiers were strapped into seats.

"Ren! Why aren't you smiling!? This is a brand new adventure for us!" Nora beamed an energetic smile; Pyrrha was stifling a laugh as the hammer wielder bounced in her seat, though she was held back by the straps.

"Fuck me mate, she's probably one of those fucking civvies that'll break open an airlock and say oops as we're all go for a walk naked." A soldier whispered shouted to one of his buddies next to him, and they both laughed. Ren turned his gaze to the two men, and locked eye contact with them.

Pyrrha watched as the two soldiers stare back at Ren, and within a few moments quickly looked away as Saul stepped into the Bullhead. A noticeable tilt occurred as he climbed aboard, the man that opened the door for them earlier flayed his arms a bit to steady himself at the sudden tilt.

"Let's get this bird moving soon." Saul said as he took a knee within the aircraft, none of the seats were large enough for him to sit in, so he was forced to be in the middle. Even than he took up a sizable chunk of the interior with his armor and bulk.

Pyrrha felt butterflies go through her stomach as the Bullhead's engines started to up, she could feel the downward force on her insides as the aircraft lifted up from the ground. She looked across from her to the soldiers that were sitting in the aircraft with them; she wondered how they would feel if they knew that she was the one that watched Alexander Arc die on Beacon Tower.

"Pyrrha." The deep voice of Saul called out and the red hair champion looked at him, he beckoned for all three members of team JNPR to get up. Looking amongst themselves they unstrapped themselves from the seats; Saul did his best to move to the side and pointed to the cockpit door.

"Go and have a look, you'll like it." The three teens made their way up to the cockpit and opened the door, looking inside there wasn't that much that was different. However looking out the canopy Pyrrha could feel her mouth open in utter shock.

"Whoa…" Nora whispered, and Pyrrha couldn't help but agree with the reaction that she had. High into the atmosphere, a massive grey and black vessel lazily drifted through the sky; behind it Pyrrha could see that the atmosphere wasn't as blue as it once was.

"How high are we?" Pyrrha said aloud, the black visor of one of the pilots turned to her and a woman's voice crackled through an inbuilt speaker.

"We're going to entering the exobase soon, so about eighty kilometers high, I suggest you go and find your seats now, this part of the trip always gives newbies the shakes." Pyrrha could hear the smile in the woman's voice at that last part. The three teens turned back around, slowly making their way back to their seats.

The shuddering of the Bullhead was starting to become very noticeable, and Pyrrha could feel trepidation as they continued to ascend. The ship they had seen was massive, and mostly likely a warship, one that could probably flatten Beacon in a matter of minutes. Which brought up a thought, if they needed ships like that, what did they fight?

She doubted that the Arcs used their vessels often in ground based operations, and with no war going on between the Four Kingdoms, why go through the effort of maintaining such a large ship.

The simple answer was that she just didn't know, and most likely would never know. The more complex way to find an answer would be to talk to someone like Saul or Sanian; they would most likely be able to give her a good answer. Pyrrha reckoned, that it would be best to make sure to avoid Arabella or Katherine, as much as she enjoyed knowing them, with Jaune's state as it is and Alexander's death, it would be an emotional minefield over there.

There was a crackle of an interior speaking coming on, and the woman from before spoke up.

"Docking procedures underway, we'll be set to disembark in a few minutes, and to our special guests welcome aboard." The soldiers started to unstrap themselves and gather their gear together, Pyrrha, Nora and just continued to sit for a few more moments before Saul beckoned them to get ready.

"I wonder how big the ship actually is; just by the size we saw from the outside, I reckon it's larger than even the Atlas Naval ships." Ren mused aloud as slug his pack over his shoulders, Nora spun wide eye to Ren the look of horror on her face was slightly disturbing.

"Ren?! What if they don't have pancakes?!" Ren couldn't help but sigh and pat Nora on the head.

"Nora we don't know unless we check the ship out, even than we're probably gonna be given a tour or something to understand the layout of the vessel of places we can or cannot go, and if they happen to not have pancakes, there's bound to be have something you might like."

Pyrrha could only chuckle as she stood next to Saul, the soldiers laughed and talked amongst each other as they waited for the doors to open. With a hiss and whine of motors the Bullhead's side doors opened, and Pyrrha stepped out onto a grey metal platform, with yellow rails. She looked around and once again was awestruck.

The hanger that the Bullhead had apparently pulled into was easily twice the length and width of the Beacon dining hall. Along the wall to her left and right were at least two dozen more Bullheads resting from metal clamps. Soldiers milled around the platforms like the one she was on, talking casual, the sight nothing but routine for them.

Men and woman in blue overalls and jumpsuits with the Arc emblem stitched on their chests under name tags, with another white skull and golden wings adjacent to them were also about. Pyrrha reckoned that they were probably pilots or ship crew.

Nora and Ren stepped out of the Bullhead behind them have similar reactions to the sight of the aircraft hangar. Saul just guffawed at their reactions before nodding to the Bullhead crew as they passed by them.

"So kids welcome the Arcadian naval frigate, Vergeltung, currently on route to Arcadia." Saul said raising his arms wide as if they haven't already noticed that they were in a massive warship.

Pyrrha was once more distracted by a tall figure in red that seemed to approach from further down the walk way, shivers went down her back as she took a good look at the figure.

It was roughly seven feet tall covered head to toe in a thick blood red robe, the golden Arc emblem within a cog wheel was embroidered on its chest. However coming from its back was two robotic arms; the pinchers clicked and rotated in place idly.

Upon further inspection, Pyrrha could see the jaw of their face was the smooth silver of metal, looking down as if sensing her gaze; it met eye contact with Pyrrha. There wasn't any organic flesh on its face, and Pyrrha couldn't help but recall the nurse when she woke up. Its face seemed to be entirely metal, molded to look like a human skull with green optics for its eyes.

Was this person, she felt the term barely applied to them, injured in some action while in service of the Arcs. Saul stepped forward; Nora and Ren were mimicking each other by having gaping mouths of surprise.

"Ah Enginseer Paulus, how good to see you again." Saul said casually, he must have been accustomed to the sight of the injured man to speak so casually. There was a burst of static that seemed to emit from the being before the raspy tones of a robotic voice came forth.

"A pleasure as always Legatus legionis." Saul raised a hand.

"Please, no need to refer me as such Paulus, we're all friends here." The machine man didn't respond but Pyrrha got the impression that it or he was looking at them.

"Ah, I see you've noticed our guests." Saul said and gestured towards Nora.

"This is Nora Valkyrie, student of Beacon and member of team JNPR." Nora just waved enthusiastically, the red robed figured only bowed slightly.

"Next to her is her partner and fellow team member Lie Ren." Saul pointed to the stoic man who in return bowed slightly which was mirrored.

"If you two are partners, when shall you conspire to bring forth offspring?" The robotic monotone voice of Paulus asked, and Pyrrha could see both teens blush crimson. Pyrrha couldn't help but stifle a laugh; even Saul had cracked a smile.

"No Paulus not in that sense, they're partners on the battlefield." There wasn't a response for a few minutes as if it was thinking.

"That's a shame, while I'm not a Genetor; I calculate that they would have very viable offspring." Saul just shook his head and finally gestured at Pyrrha.

"And last this is Pyrrha Nikos, partner to Jaune Arc and member of team JNPR." Pyrrha bowed slightly, though for some reason she still felt a little uneasy with the man.

"Partner in similar fashion as Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren?" Nora bounced forward a wide smile on her face.

"Nope! They're together together!" The man just stared at her; the green lights of his optics and emotionless face revealed nothing.

"Fascinating." It said before stepping forward towards the Bullhead.

"If you'll excuse me Legatus, I must attend my duties." Saul bowed his head slightly and gestured for the three students to follow him.

* * *

 **Forty Minutes Later…**

Pyrrha couldn't help but be in awe everything she had seen, the people, the walls, the lights and machines. The sheer size of it all, it was a wonder of technology that Pyrrha doubted that anyone in the Four Kingdoms could make even with a decade of time and the combined resources of all the nations.

After showing them the cafeteria, observation deck and the hangers along with various stations for lifeboats in case of an emergency, Saul had brought them to a spacious stateroom that he had said was prepared just for them.

"How long is this journey again?" Nora called out as she stuck her head from underneath white linen sheets of one of the beds. Ren stood next to her carefully unfolding and refolding his clothes from his bag, he paused.

"It's not a very long trip, especially considering the size of the vessel, Saul said that we're currently in something called a Geocentric orbit since we're roughly at four hundred kilometers high which would take us about ninety minutes for travel to complete a full cycle around the planet which we're apparently going to do, not sure why it's beyond my understanding but rest assured Nora we'll be there soon." Nora just huffed and rotated onto her back.

"So we gonna hit the cafeteria then?" Nora asked again as silence filled the room, Ren looked at Pyrrha who had already unpacked her stuff, and shrugged.

"I don't see why not."

The three teens got up and left the room, it took them a while to navigate the sprawling grey metal corridors. Twice the teens had to stop and ask a crew member for directions until one of them just told them to follow him and he led them to the closest mess hall.

Rows of fluorescent lights lined the ceiling casting faith white hue over dozens of tables that were lined up into pairs. A little more than a dozen tables were filled with men and women eating or chatting. The black fatigues of the army seemed to congregate mostly to themselves while the blue overalls and jumpsuits of the naval crew sat elsewhere.

Pyrrha couldn't help but feel it's a little odd that they seemed to be separating themselves like that. Then again it's just like anywhere else, a person sticks with what and who they know best.

"Wow that smells delightful." Ren said as the teens got into line, and started to pick up utensils and plates. Pyrrha could feel her mouth water at the sight of mash potatoes, corn, meatloaf, fried chicken, sliced beef brisket, pasta, along with beef fried rice, mixed vegetables, and the far end of the line Pyrrha could see rows of desserts of pie, cake and brownies.

"Ya know this just breaks the stereotype that movies always show about the terrible food that the military give." Nora said as she piled slices of beef over a mound of mash potatoes, the man behind them in black army fatigues snorted but didn't say anything.

After fully helping themselves to food, the three teens took a seat in the far corner of the cafeteria, Nora and Ren on one side while Pyrrha was opposite them; they began tucking into their food.

It was delicious; the mash potatoes were smooth and flavorsome, giving a faint after taste of meat. The beef brisket was tender and moist, each slice of it almost melting in Pyrrha's mouth. The fried chicken was crispy, tiny flakes of the crust showering the rest of her food.

"Wow, this taste amazing!" Nora proclaimed as she dipped a piece of fried chicken in her mash potatoes and munching on it.

"I agree, the preparations and quality of ingredients for this food must be well thought out for." Ren said evenly as he took another bite of a salad that he had taken with him.

Pyrrha watched as a group of soldiers and naval crew seemed to gather around some table further down from them. The muted sounds of conversation could be heard from where they sat.

"So what are you kids doing on a vessel like this?" A feminine voiced asked and the three teens took to see a woman standing at the other end of the table.

Standing before them was a woman a little more than six feet tall with a pale face and red hair that was tied into a pony tail behind her head. She wore dark army fatigues with the sleeves rolled up, a golden eagle with its talons holding each half of the Arc crest, was pinned at her collar, and an indiscernible name was stitched above the left breast pocket.

Pyrrha could see the corded muscle in her forearms, speaking up to the fact that she was probably no slouch in a fight, there was something about her that seemed very familiar.

"May I sit here?" The woman gestured to the spot next to Pyrrha, she smiled.

"Of course." The woman sat next to her and Pyrrha couldn't help but get the faint waft of cinnamon and pine, which was surprising because the more common smells she associated with soldiers, was smoke, oil, carbolic soap and sometimes blood.

"Something tells me you're more than just standard civilians, considering where Vergeltung was recently stationed I'm thinking you're actually Beacon students." Pyrrha nodded.

"You're correct ma'am, my name is Pyrrha Nikos, this is Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, and we're here on invitation to see Arcadia." Pyrrha said as she gestured to her friends.

"I thought Beacon teams were made up of four people?" The woman asked, and Pyrrha met her eyes, they were green, kind of like hers in fact. She could also see that they were the eyes of a very intelligent woman, one who know doubt had a clue on why they were here. Pyrrha looked over to Ren and Nora, both of them met her eyes and nodded.

"Yes, you're right about that, our fourth member and team leader was injured in the fighting at Beacon, you'll recognize him as Jaune Arc the son of Alexander Arc." The woman smiled.

"I had a feeling that would be the case; it was on the news circuits a few months back about how the only son to Alexander Arc was attending the prestigious Beacon Academy. There was a lot of speculation that if or when Alexander stepped down as High Lord it would have been for someone in his family or someone he deems truly worthy, though now that he's dead it seems Arabella is going to step in as Steward until someone's picked but no one but her and the council have a clue who Alexander had in mind." Pyrrha mused over this information.

"What's the council and Arabella going to do now till then, if Vale and Beacon were attacked are they going to try and help the other three Kingdoms prepare themselves." Ren asked but the woman shrugged.

"I can't say for sure, my orders were to link up the rest of my regiment that was rotated back to Arcadia, and wait till further commands."

"So it's just a need to know thing?" Ren asked as he set down his fork, his plate cleaned of food. Nora had apparently gone and had another helping of mash potatoes. Somehow she was also pouring syrup into the middle of it; Pyrrha grimaced at the profane sight of the two mixing.

"That's how it is for everyone; the higher ups rarely let people know things until they need to know or until it's too late to do anything about it. Though to be fair, it's not like we have that much of a choice in our deployments, if we wanted that sort of freedom we wouldn't have joined up." Pyrrha looked at the woman.

"Why did you sign up? If you don't mind me asking!" Pyrrha hastily added the end.

"Ha, well I suppose I just wanted to do something that helps others, I mean sure there's plenty of other things I can do out there, like be a Judge, or a doctor, maybe even the Sisterhood but I wanted to be with in the grit of it all, and joining the Army just seemed like a good idea, so me and a bunch of my friends joined up. Though it wasn't all glamour I can tell you that, I've had my fair share of hardships but at the same time, I've done some good of that I can be proud of." Pyrrha and Ren both nodded at that.

"Fuck those assholes, this is fucking bullshit." A loud voice said from behind, and the four of them looked to see a group of soldiers and naval personnel talking profusely, a tall burly man with short black hair and scar running down his cheek was wringing his hands in frustration.

The woman next to Pyrrha stood up, and moved back into the aisle, and called out to them.

"Lobell! What seems to be the issue?" The man along with everyone around him turned to her and immediately straightened up, snapping a quick salute. She waved them down, and planted herself in front of them, her hands on her hips.

"I'm waiting; if you have something that's upset you corporal, speak now." The man visibly paled.

"Colonel, the vultures in Vale are claiming that we're the ones that were responsible for the Battle of Vale and Beacon." The man gestured at someone to come forward and a small wiry man with glasses stepped forward holding some device and handed it to the woman. She took it and carefully scanned the surface of the device.

"Huh, so it seems that the media has begun shifting the attention to us saying that we're the ones to blame for the attack because we did not give the relevant information nor did we give vital military assets to Atlas to use to stop the attack once it started." The woman sneered as she read aloud, she continued.

"They're also suggesting that it may be part of a larger plan of us trying to take control of Vale by pretending to be the heroes at the last second, taking all the glory while doing none of the work, and whoever wrote this garbage says come back for an more in-depth coverage of the resurgence of the racist and warmonger forgotten Kingdom." She concluded as she turned the screen off and handed it to the man, Lobell.

Pyrrha could see that more than a few people were looked to be upset by this article, she can't blame them either, and nothing about it was true. To fight and die on another nation's soil and then get blamed for the attack in the first place tends to lead to a very disgruntled attitude.

"That's not all." The man, Lobell, said with gritted teeth, as he turned the screen back on and swiped at the screen before handing it back.

"If it wasn't for the hard work of one Pyrrha Nikos, four times Mistral Regional Champion and star first year student of Beacon Academy who succeeded at defeating the Grimm Beast as the famed Alexander the Great Arc died unable to do his duty, the battle may have raged needlessly on wasting valuable Valean and Atlesian lives."

Ren reached across the table and tapped on the surface with his knuckles catching Pyrrha's attention. She turned to him, and could see a hard look in his eyes; Nora was also scanning the room more intently than before.

"I think we should go." He said quietly, Pyrrha nodded simply, and the trio picked up their trays making their way to the exit.

"Hey wait a minute, isn't that the girl in the article?" Almost like a gunshot, the simple question seemed to echo around the mess hall, and Pyrrha turned her head slightly to see that everyone was looking at her. The only sound came from the kitchen as the staff continued to go about their jobs. The woman raised her hands to gain everyone's attention both naval and army alike.

"Alright that's enough folks, it's obvious this is just the article of some stressed out hyper nationalistic newspaper, so get your heads out of your asses." Everyone slowly turned back to what they were doing but Pyrrha could still make out a few hostile glares of people.

"We should go Pyrrha." Ren whispered as Nora stood in the hallway, and Pyrrha reluctantly left, though the red hair woman gave her a wave which she kindly returned. Internally she felt distraught to know that people are aware of who she was and not because of actually meeting her but because of some crazy news article.

Looking around the steel walls seemed to close in on her and everything felt warmer than it should be. She was faintly aware that she was still following Ren and Nora, neither of them was speaking but she could see how they shifted their heads ever so slightly as if to scan for disgruntled soldiers.

To think that she would have to contend with her image with the Arcadians like this, she kind of missed the days when people looked at her in awe or jealous. Instead she's dealing with the potential situation of every Arcadian soldiers and sailors loathing her.

She bumped into something and looked up, standing before her was someone that she honestly didn't expect to see.

"Hello Pyrrha." Katherine Arc said.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Sehra Muril sat in the passenger seat of the lead Venator, behind her the rest of her company was making its way on slowly to the Forward Operating Base Amboss, located in the far south western reaches of Sanus.

She didn't really understand the need for having such a fortification all the way down there. The nearest village or town was nearly two weeks by road. Though it would have been one week had Gellar not fall.

Thinking about Gellar brought her back to thoughts about Qrow, when they were saying their goodbyes at the docks, there was something off about him. He looked so incredibly sad, she wasn't sure about why that was the case but it made her heart bleed to see that. She swore to him right there that she would be back in no time, and that's a promise she planned to keep.

"Hey Lieutenant." Sergeant First Class Geri said, and Sehra looked at her NCO, she was focused on the road. Following her gaze she realized what she got her attention for. In the distance several shadowy trails led up to the sky, smoke, and where there's smoke, there's fire.

Sehra picked up the inbuilt vox caster and dialed it to the mainline Amboss communication frequency that they were given. Instead of the usual chatter that she had heard a few hours earlier there was absolutely no traffic what so ever.

Which was bit concerning because the base already had two more companies on hand, that were constantly patrolling the outer perimeter while giving routine check-ins. She switched the frequency to the company channel.

"1-1 this is 2-1, come in 1-1." Sehra said, using her company designation as second platoon's lieutenant, to the first platoon's command squad and overall company commander Captain Joseph Nell.

A grizzled older man, one with years of experience though he never got higher in the ranks despite the seniority and experience at his call.

Some in the company speculate that he was in a fact a higher rank at one point but was busted down for insubordination.

Others spoke up saying that he just didn't want to deal with battalion or regimental politics. Sehra didn't know nor did she care, he was a good man and a better leader, and she trusts her life with him.

"This is 1-1, come in 2-1, what's the deal Lieutenant?"

"There seems to be smoke on the horizon coming from the southwest, the same direction of Amboss." Sehra said and let go of the talk button on the vox, a few second passed by before there was a crackle of static and Nell responded.

"Alright 2-1, I'm pulling back the speed of the rest of the company, since you're already in lead, do you think you can act as reconnaissance for this, I don't want to bring the rest of the company forward the smoke trail of the company will give us away if there's something going on." Sehra put down the receiver and looked to Geri, who had slowed the Venator down to a halt; there was three more Venators behind them that held the rest of first squad.

The last two Venators were actually bringing up the rear of the group as four Chimeras holding the rest of the platoon were placed in the center. Sehra jumped out of the Venator and made a slashing motion across her neck to Geri who killed the engine. Sehra adjusted the inbuilt vox system of her helmet to the platoon frequency.

"Squad leaders get your squads set up for a perimeter then form up on me, drivers you can kill the noise but keep the auto cannons manned." Sehra said, before switching back to her squad's frequency.

"Gillian, set the stubber up covering the road, Geri, pick three and cover Gillian's left, Madison take another four and cover the right, Braddeck start scouting further down the road, the first checkpoints should be nearby, let me know if you see anything out of ordinary." Sehra dispatched her orders and soldiers immediately set to their assigned tasks.

She turned around; four fully armed and armored soldiers came walking towards her.

The first was a petite figure only five foot six, Sergeant Hailey of second squad however was by far the best hand to hand combat specialist in the company. Sehra remembered the one time she had sparred with the shorter woman, it was by far one of the biggest ass kicking's she's ever had.

Her prowess in hand to hand combat had led her to the role of normally taking charged in room to room clearance in dense urban combat zones. She's taking a liking to always equipping herself with a six shell pump action shotgun; taking standard twelve gauge shells or slugs.

Behind her was the polar opposite Sergeant Reverne of third squad, a tall burly man that would have looked so large for his gear that it was almost comical, if it wasn't for the fact that he had the strength to match it. However Reverne was in fact a very gentle person, opting to be the voice of reason and empathy in the platoon.

He was also the only one to carry the A.M.R or Anti Material Rifle and use the fifty caliber rifle as anyone else would use the Agripinaa rifle. His choice of personal weapon also reflects the rest of his squad who are considered the heavy weapons support of the platoon as a whole.

Though every squad has at least one person designated as the heavy weapons user, ranging from a heavy stubber, a rocket launcher, or if they're lucky a meltagun. Reverne's squad however has three heavy stubbers and two soldiers armed with the rocket launchers.

Next came the Sergeants Quentin and Fellon of squads four and five, they were friends who had apparently joined the army together and have somehow managed to be stay together since then. Their squads were mostly just standard for the most part.

They were of a more average build or as average for a veteran soldier in the army. Without their armor and gear on, they would look like any poster model of the Army with chiseled physiques.

"Alright boys and girls, here's the situation, communication from Amboss has gone quiet, along with some abnormal smoke coming from the direction of the F.O.B. so we're gonna move forward on foot and see what we can find out and report back to Captain Nell." Quentin spoke up at that, a slightly airy voice with a slight muffled echo from his external vox caster.

"Lieutenant any idea what's actually going on, do we know if it's an attack or just some really bad accident?" Sehra shook her head.

"Can't say for sure Quentin, but considering what's been going on lately, I'd lean towards a side of caution on this one, we're the only company in the area aside from the garrison at Amboss. The nearest Army unit is 7th Division's 3rd Armor Battalion and even if they had the necessary aircraft to lift a significant portion of their strength, it'd still take them a day's worth of travel for them to come help us and five days of travelling by ground at full speed which they couldn't do even if they wanted too, which isn't even accounting terrain." Quentin remained silent at that, and Hailey spoke next.

"So what's the plan?" Sehra pulled out a data slate, the Arcadian counterpart to a Scroll; it was a little bulkier and weighed nearly four times that of a Scroll in the Four Kingdoms. She pulled up a static map of the region, and where they were supposed to be in relations to Amboss.

"Alright, four squads will be moving out, I'll take the main road Hailey take your squad and go to my left around a hundred meters out, Quentin and Fellon you're on the right a hundred meter spread as well." The three of them nodded and immediately set off to gather their squads.

"What about my squad Lieutenant?" Sehra nodded to the Venators.

"You're staying here with the Venators and Chimeras, Reverne; if or when the shit hits the fan I'm going to want as much firepower as I possibly can until the rest of the company arrives." The man nods and begins splitting his squad up to man the four remaining Venators.

Sehra turns around and walks back towards her squad, they were still in the positions she had placed them earlier, so she switched her vox channel to the squad frequency.

"Alright, everyone on me." She said and they immediately started moving back to her, though she was proud to see that they were still covering the woods and area around them efficiently.

"What's the plan, Lieutenant?" Gillian, the squad's new heavy weapon specialist, he wasn't a very tall man but he had the strength and build of a bodybuilder.

"We're gonna move by foot and observe Amboss checkpoint, we're not that far out so be vigilant, something foul is in the air." He nodded and Sehra looked over the rest of her squad. At that point Sehra looked up to see Private Braddeck standing with them, everyone else jumped at little except for Geri and her.

"Fuck me sideways Braddeck, you're gonna kill me." Madison said as she released a loud sigh, Braddeck just shrugged.

"Alright Braddeck what do you have?" Sehra asked ignoring the comments of the squad.

"It's as you say ma'am, watch tower with a bunker surrounding the base, but I couldn't see anyone manning it, the main hatch is also left open but I didn't approach any further and doubled back here."

"Any signs of a firefight?"

"Negative, but the fact that there isn't anything doesn't bode well." Sehra relayed this to her sergeants, and looked down the road.

"Alright we're gonna move in, Braddeck, Urloy, Kloos, Hall, and Madison, you're with me. Geri, take the rest, we're moving parallel up the road, but remain off to the sides, if we take incoming fire move into the trees." Sehra said as she quickly jogged back to the lead Venator and pulled out her own rifle similar to the one that Reverne has but unlike his, her rifle was a scope attached to the top. In addition she needs to set it down or up against something to fire accurately.

Though she made it up by being the only one in the platoon with a bolt weapon, she checked her pouches for extra bolt magazines. While she had more stopping power in both her primary and secondary weapons in comparison to the rest of her platoon.

She had the downside of having a significantly less amount of ammunition. She could always overstock herself with more but it would just slow her down and in situations like this where she needed to be quiet she rather not have something weighing her down. She clicked her helmet vox to the platoon frequency.

"Alright, all squads move out, maintain distance and radio checks every five minutes." So the four Arcadian infantry squads moved through the woods towards the outer pickets of Amboss.

The forest was eerily quiet; there wasn't any sign of life except for a faint breeze and the occasional rustle of nearby bushes. Though it would always bring the attention of two or three barrels but it would be nothing but small critters that are able to survive in the Outlands.

"Lieutenant, there's the checkpoint." Braddeck said over the squad vox channel, and Sehra kneeled down, unslinging her rifle.

Ahead of them was a clearing roughly a mile wide, with a square grey concrete bunker in the middle, it was roughly five thousand square feet in size. The bunker should be able to house two squads of soldiers along with enough food, medical supplies and ammunition to last about three days of combat should the soldiers ever find themselves cut off from support.

With twenty foot tall tower made from steel and wood reaching skywards in the center. Surrounding the bunker was several layers of barbed wire; the serrated steel wires could and would cut through any flesh that wasn't significantly protected.

In each cardinal direction there was a slit for defenders to fire from, each side also had a single autocannon to bolster the defense. Only heavily armored opponents can stomach a single shell of a autocannon let alone a barrage of the large shells.

Sehra watched for signs of movements within the slits, but there was nothing. She switched her vox channel to the frequency that they were given to contact the outer perimeter checkpoints, there was nothing to indicate that the lines were down. There was just no one on the other side.

"I don't see anything, it's as you say Braddeck, and nothing sticks out aside from not seeing anyone." Sehra switched her vox to the platoon channel again.

"All squads report." There was a brief pause till Hailey responds first.

"Second squad here, we're to your left Lieutenant, entering the clearing now." Sehra turned her head slightly to see the dozen members of second squad slowly exit the cover of the tree line.

"Fourth squad to your right Lieutenant." Quentin voxed in, Fellon came seconds later.

"Fifth squad on the west side Lieutenant, all clear here." Sehra nodded to herself and slung her rifle over her shoulder, pulling out her bolt pistol.

"Second squad on me, we're moving into the bunker, fourth and fifth split into fireteams and set up a perimeter, I don't want anything trying to sneak up onto us." Sehra said as she voxed to her squad leaders before looking at her own squad and signaling them to move forward.

They moved up the narrow path between the razor wires towards the bunker. Sehra could feel sweat prick at the back of her neck, if someone had taken over the bunker; the autocannon in front of them would rip them to pieces before anyone could move.

The seconds seemed to stretch forever until they finally reached the wall of the bunker, she let go a quiet sigh of relief. She motioned the squad forward towards the main hatch. Across from her second squad had lined up on the wall as well.

They moved closer to the hatch and Braddeck who had taken point waved his hand behind him signaling her to come forward.

"You're gonna wanna look at this Ma'am." Sehra quirked her eyebrow, and stepped off the wall and silently moved forward, crouching next to him. He pointed his thumb back around the corner, Sehra peered around the edge, the metal hatch was lying on the dirt floor, and she cursed silently.

"On me." She said simply and slipped around the corner, her bolt pistol raised and aimed at the doorway. The rest of her squad and second closed in behind her, she kneeled down and examined it.

There wasn't any residual matter or signs of heat damage, which meant that it hadn't been blown off. The area where the door locking mechanism was damaged, it looked to be dented inwards to the point that it had bent completely in a ninety degree angle.

The hinges also showed signs of damage. Though they weren't cut with any metal or energy based tool. If she had to hazard a guess, it looked like it had been stretched to the point of breaking. She stood up and looked at the doorway, proceeding slowly forward. The two squads follow slowly behind her.

Stepping into a cool hallway of the bunker, she swept her pistol back and forth looking for a target; a single light flickered above her. At the edge of her vision she spots something that makes her stomach drop. Blood covered the concrete wall to her left; a few splashes were even on the ceiling, the slow drip indicating that it was still relatively fresh. Below it, slumped on the floor were three soldiers.

One soldier had their limbs been ripped off, an arm laid close to her feet, though what was really telling was the fact that the forearm was crushed as well. Fragments of bone stuck through the cloth of the sleeve, and the edge of the arm was stringy with muscles, sinews and the stark white of the humerus.

The second soldier was crumpled on the floor face down; Sehra rolled the body over with one foot and could see that the front of the helmet had been crushed inward. The visor had shattered and she could see bone and flesh intermingling in the ruins of the helmet.

The third one was on both sides of the hallway. From the ribs up, the soldier rested against the wall, a pool of blood around him, lungs poking out from the blood flecked white bones of his ribs. Sehra looked away and could see a line of intestines sprawled on the floor leading to the second half of the body smashed against the opposing wall.

"What the fuck." Madison whispered over the squad vox.

"Vox discipline Private Madison." Geri snapped within seconds, the NCO's black visor helmet scanning the room for threats.

"That's enough Geri, she's echoing my own thoughts at this point, spread out, look for survivors and put a bullet into the face of the fucker who did this." Sehra said over her external vox, the noise seeming to echo needlessly.

Geri, Braddeck and Madison followed Sehra as she walked to the next room; the door was once again on the floor, dented completely vertically as if someone ran into it.

"Do you think it was Grimm?" Madison asked as she swept the room with her rifle, Sehra shook her head.

"No we would have known that the Grimm did this, they're not exactly subtle about attacking like this, and the fact that no one saw it coming also rules out a Grimm attack."

"But what if it wasn't a Grimm Horde, what if it was like an Elder Beowolf that just so happened to be alone." This time Geri respond as she flipped over a corpse with a hole in their chest the size of a dinner plate.

"Have you ever seen an Elder Beowolf? Let alone any Elder Grimm? Sure they would in theory be able to do this but the fact that no one seems to have noticed a giant Grimm killing them and fight back indicates otherwise."

"Than what did this?" Braddeck asked as stood next to the door they had just come in through, his rifle held in his hands ready to snap up at any threat.

"Do you think its daemons?" Madison said softly, before anyone else could say something Sehra interjected.

"No, it wasn't daemons or Grimm, no; this was done by someone else, possibly the White Fang, we know that their group is apparently very involved with the Enemy, someone with capabilities akin to that of a Huntsmen or Huntress would be able to do this." This seemed to make sense until her vox crackled and Hailey came on.

"Lieutenant, you need to see this." Something about her voice seemed to be off, Sehra knew that Hailey was no stranger to death; before she had risen to sergeant she had been a part of the Leflore counter attack. Though her battalion had been ground to the bone and subsequently disbanded, the survivors dispersed

"Let's move." Sehra said as she walked out of the room, her boots leaving bloody footprints from the blood she had stepped through.

It wasn't hard to find Hailey, the bunker wasn't that big but the carnage that had befallen the soldiers stationed in it was large enough to leave most rooms bearing the evidence of it.

In one room, one of the soldiers had their head repeatedly smashed into the wall, their face no longer recognizable from the flat mush of broken bones and flesh.

Another soldier had been split head to toe, whether it was from a blade or by hand it was hard to tell. The ribs of the two halves looked a lot more like puzzle pieces than anything else. Though the innards were splatted all over the floor, and looked to be crush by an armored boot.

Sehra finally entered the sleeping quarters of the bunker where the rest of her squad and second squad stood around something.

Sehra noticed that more than a few of her soldiers had their helmets off, many of whom looked pale. A few were even consoling one woman who was dry heaving on the floor.

The soldiers parted and fear gripped her heart once more as she saw what they were looking at.

Strung up onto the wall was the rest of the bunker's garrison. The wall was lined from one end to another with the skinless corpses of the soldiers, their skin left in piles at their feet. Their armor and clothes also folded neatly as if it wasn't some depraved act of torture.

Sehra moved forward and took a closer look at the skinless bodies. There was something even stranger; the stench of blood was still strong despite the helmet protecting her head. She peered at the muscle and it churned her stomach, not because of the dead skinned soldier but because carved into the meat of the person was a crude circle with eight points going outwards.

"Geri, bring the other squads in, now, Cory, I need you here." Cory was the platoon's vox operator, carrying the thirty pound device in addition to the sixty pounds of standard gear that the Army gives them.

"I'm here ma'am." The wiry vox operator appeared before her.

"Have you checked the Vox systems imbedded here?" The man nodded.

"Yes Ma'am, the casters themselves are undamaged but I took a look at the wiring system and it seems that the antennae's were fried, probably in case if the Enemy was detected and one of the soldiers tried to get a warning off."

"Let's move outside and get the Captain on the line." Sehra, Cory went outside as fourth and fifth squad moved back inside. Geri had also set about to gathering the bodies in one place. Once outside, Sehra opted to take her helmet off, a few soldiers stood near the doorway watching the surrounding landscape.

"2-3, 2-3, this is 2-1, over?" There was a brief silence before the vox caster crackled and Sergeant Reverne's voice came out.

"2-1, this is 2-3, what's up Lieutenant?"

"Move my position now, make sure to bring the Venators and Crimea's and set up a perimeter around the bunker entrance, over."

"WILCO, 2-3 out." Sehra nodded to Cory, and he switches the Vox Caster to the company frequency.

"Break Break this is 2-1 to 1-1." Almost instantly the voice of Captain Nell comes through the speaker.

"2-1 this is 1-1, read you Five by Five, sitrep Lieutenant."

"Sir, the bunker's garrison are all dead, signs of a forced entry and whatever did it was able to kill all of them without them being able to fire a single shot back, also the Vox was sabotaged presumably prior to the attack." At that moment there was a series of cracks and pops in the distance.

"Standby 1-1!" Sehra said before looking around, there was another sets of crackling and pops further south.

"Ma'am what is that?!" Geri said as she and four more troopers ran out from behind her taking up position, their rifles up and sweeping the area.

"Gunfire to the south, it seems to be coming from Amboss." Sehra reached out an empty hand towards Cory, who places the Vox handset back into her hand.

"1-1, come in, this is 2-1, gunfire coming from the direction of Amboss, how copy?" There was silence, in the distance Sehra could see third squad escorting the Chimeras, Captain Nell's voice crackled through the vox.

"2-1 this is 1-1, push on ahead to Amboss, once there establish a defensive line until we arrive, do not engage unless absolutely necessary, report back on what you find, over." Sehra gritted her teeth, and handed the handset back to Cory. She switched her helmet's inbuilt vox to the platoon frequency.

"All squads mount up, we're going to Amboss." Reverne's voice popped up.

"Rules of Engagement?"

"Set up a perimeter at the entrance of the base and fire when fired upon." The squads immediately started to file in the troop compartments of the Chimera's.

"Reverne, you've got point with the Venators, let's move second platoon!" Sehra said curtly into the vox and took a seat next to the hatch of her squad's Chimera.

"So what do you think we're gonna see?" Private Hall, a soldier fresh out of basic asked, she could hear the slight trepidation in his voice. She wanted to say something to comfort the young man, but it would be better to be honest with him then let his set him up for an awful surprise.

"I can't say for sure private, so clear your mind and take a deep breath, remember to watch your squad mate's back and they'll do the same for you, and remember you're a soldier of the Arcadian Army we look after our own." The soldier nodded, and while she couldn't see his face, she'd imagine that it was no doubt pale with fear.

"The F.O.B. is in sight, E.T.A two minutes!" A speaker in the troop compartment blares out.

"Reverne what's out there?" Sehra asks as she checks the magazine in her bolt pistol, he didn't respond.

"Reverne!" She shouts a little louder, he finally responds.

"Lieutenant, you're not going to like this." He says simply and Sehra just groans in annoyance. The Chimera grounds to a halt, Sehra flings the hatch open and jumps out, her pistol raised as she looked around.

They were inside the walls at this point, she looked back at the gate, and the doors were completely gone. The six inch thick steel doors were nowhere to be seen. The fifteen feet tall walls were unmanned and to her left and right she could see towers every fifty feet, with the barrels of auto cannons on three sides. None of them were manned and there wasn't a single person on the walls.

The Chimeras lined up side by side with the Venators in pairs on either side. Reverne had everyone with a heavy weapon in his squad step off the Venators.

More and more of her platoon filed out of the Chimera's setting up a perimeter just inside the gate. Quentin and Fallon already had their squads set up crouched down in front of the Chimera's their weapons pointed outwards.

Hailey took her squad and moved them back towards the main gate, watching it in case someone or something tried to sneak up on them. Geri was already ordering the squad to move forward and assist fourth and fifth squads.

Two of the Chimera's began firing with their autocannons, the roar of the guns were tremendous. She could hear her squad leaders start ordering their soldiers to fire. The pops and cracks of small arms fire filled the air puncturing only by bursts of autocannons and heavy stubber fire as the Venators joined in.

Sehra made her way out from behind the Chimeras with her squad behind her and she started to panic a little.

About a hundred meters away was something that she had hoped that she would never see again. Beings once wrought to bring a hostile galaxy to its knees in the name of a being that was worshipped as a god.

In dark blue and midnight black armor with images of death along with the skulls, some old, and some were new, hanging off their bodies. Most of them carried chipped short swords and serrated axes, a few even held archaic looking bolt weapons.

Surrounding the dread warriors was piles of butchered corpses, bodies and limbs hacked or ripped apart by weapons that no normal mortal could ever wield effectively.

In the distance, the main buildings were alit by flames, some sporadic gunfire could be heard but not enough to indicate a proper resistance was being put up by the base, so Sehra said the only thing she could think of.

"Open Fire!"

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

In the bowels of the Arcadian frigate, Vergeltung, Saul, and two others stood over the unconscious body of Jaune Arc.

"And you're sure we can do this without any unwarranted side effects." He asked once more, he already knew the answer along with the probabilities but he wanted to ask anyways.

"I'm 85% sure that Jaune Arc will not suffer any permanent side effects that will cripple him." The Magos Biologis said.

"We will also begin Phases one to five along with Phase fourteen and throughout the process we shall be conducting as much conditioning as we can; though let it be known that due to his age he won't be able to effectively benefit from the process as a whole, for instance bone growth will not be affected, though density will be increased and to compound that muscle growth will only increase a certain percentage to match his frame, he will not be anywhere close as others would be in theory at this age in terms of strength and ability nor will he be able to connect with any of the technology you can." Saul nodded his head.

"That's fine, I'm not trying to change him as a whole in such a manner, he is to remain for the most part human, though I reckon he'll no doubt be able to wield items that even an aura enhanced individual can't handle effectively." The Magos Biologis nodded.

"Begin." Saul said simply and the Magos along with several attendants wheeled Jaune out of the room. Katherine Arc stood behind Saul, her arms crossed in slight annoyance.

"I don't think this is the best idea." She said evenly, and Saul sighed.

"Nor was it my idea but I follow my orders." Katherine raised an eyebrow at that.

"You mean my father wanted him to go through that stuff? He could get hurt."

"He's already hurt, it was only by chance that your aunt was able to get him to a Hospitaller in time, or he would have died, and yes you're father had mentioned that in his Will, and when I consulted Sanian with this, she also agreed." Katherine snorted at that.

"What happens if something goes wrong?" Saul said nothing, his back still towards the eldest Arc child.

"The love of a true mother never perishes." He said simply and walked away, the thud of his metal boots echoing in the hallway of the ship.

* * *

 **Well ain't this something, Jaune gonna get poked and prodded, Pyrrha's struggling to get a handle on things, Sehra Muril encounters the first of many beings that shall not be named like a mopey Qrow.**

 **Can't wait to see what happens next.**

 **Anyways feel free to leave a review or comment anything you like, I'm always happy and appreciative of whatever you guys and/or gals have to say.**

 **Till Next time...**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Pyrrha stood once again in the hanger of the Arcadian frigate Vergeltung, she took a deep breath. The air had a strange taste to it, it wasn't bad all things considering.

However it was easy to tell that the air has been recycled numerous times by the stale quality of it.

"How are you holding up Pyrrha?" Ren asked as he turned to her, his face partially covered by his ever growing long black hair.

"I'm fine Ren." She said simply and looked away.

She wasn't really fine, Ren traded looks with Nora, and they both could see that. After running into Katherine Arc, they had expected that something would happen between them.

Surprisingly enough, not actually happened.

Which took all three of them by surprise; they would have expected either something between distaste and empathy from the eldest Arc child. However she simply greeted them with a neutral face and moved on when they encountered her in the corridor after leaving the mess hall.

It seemed to have had a much greater effect on Pyrrha than what they thought would happen. The red hair champion had simple shut down for all intents and purposes. She sat on the foot of her bed for the rest of the trip with a distraught look in her eyes.

Ren was sure she was talking to herself mostly during that time, most of it was indistinguishable. Though Ren did hear her mention Jaune's name multiple times and something about him hating something, Ren wasn't sure but he couldn't go and ask her either.

All in all, things weren't looking good, between guilt and inability to talk about it, Pyrrha was slowly cracking under the pressure.

"So are you kids ready?" The thick timbre of Saul came from further behind them, and they turned to see the warrior standing once more in his armor.

"Saul do you ever leave your armor?" Nora asked curiosity etched across her face as she clasped her hands behind her head.

"Nora has a point; I don't think I've ever seen you out of your armor, even when you were staying at Beacon." Pyrrha said, the older warrior stared at her for second but just shrugged.

The sight of the massive warrior in large purple armor shrugging was far too comical not to be amused at and the three teens chuckled slightly. Though that chuckle died as someone stepped out from behind him.

Katherine Arc stood with her arms crossed, a passive look set on her face. She stepped forward, giving a nod to Saul, Ren and Nora before climbing into the Bullhead.

Pyrrha looked away from everyone but they could see the pained look on her face at being ignored by the Arc.

Saul and Ren both simply placed a palm to their foreheads and gave a deep sigh.

"This is going to be a long day."

 **Elsewhere…**

Sehra lay on the floor bleeding out of a stab wound in her gut, her armor was ruptured and the dark crimson of her guts poked out. The remains of her platoon were scattered all around her, her head lay in a puddle of blood that reached up to her ears.

Nearby the Venators and Chimeras were either overturned or nothing but funeral pyres for the crews inside.

The sporadic sound of gunfire echoed all around, punctuated by the sound of the deeper cracks and booms of bolt weapons.

There were also the cries of men and women screaming in fear or agony, as they begged for mercy before getting cleaved apart.

Sehra looked up and smiled, her face was ashen grey, and blood covered half her face, obscuring her vision whether it was her blood or someone else's. There was no way to be sure.

"I'm sorry…Qrow."

With a startled gasp Qrow bolted up straight in his bed, he could feel a cold sweat covering his body and his heart hammered in his chest. Taking a shaky but deep breath he swung his legs over the side of his bed and placed his feet on the cool floor of his bedroom.

He stood up and stumbled towards his bathroom; he flicked on the lights, and went to the sink, turning the faucet on. Cupping his hands under the running water, he splashed his face with cool water, and looked up, his eyes were bloodshot even he thought he looked like shit.

"What the fuck kind of dream was that?" He said aloud as he splashed more water on his face washing away the last vestiges of drowsiness.

He stepped out of the bathroom and headed towards his living room, the apartment was far too quiet for his taste. Brushing the empty take out containers of last night's dinner aside, he picked up the television remote and turned the television on.

The voice of some asinine broadcaster came on but Qrow couldn't be bothered to change the station and tossed the remote on the sofa.

He headed towards his kitchen to fix himself something to eat, and maybe some water for the headache he had. Most people would think that aura would be able to strengthen a person's tolerance to the effects of alcohol, and they would be correct.

However Qrow had long since learned the limit to which his own aura can handle before giving way to the effects of liquor. He remembered fondly the first morning after he figured it out; it was his junior year in Beacon.

Raven and Tai hadn't returned from wherever they had gone off to, as they celebrated finally making it to the end of junior year.

After Qrow had thrown up in some poor girl's hat, Summer had helped him get back to their dorm. He still remembered waking up to seeing her serene face as she slept with her head resting on his bed.

"In other news, this marks the second night of protesting in Vale." Qrow stopped midway through of carrying eggs, ham, and cheese from his fridge.

He looked up at the television and saw footage of thousands of people marching through the streets with banners calling the Arcs, fascists, racists, and warmongers.

"What the fuck?" Qrow said aloud again as he continued to make his food.

He watched as the newscaster prattled on about how people were going through the democratic process of voicing their discontent at the Arcs. Of course the anchors never outright say what they really think, feigning neutrality in the name of journalism.

However Qrow couldn't help but notice, with disdain, that they always turned the questions into ways of criticizing the Arc's seemingly inaction the last few months. As if they should have known what was gonna happen the entire time and planned accordingly.

They pinned the responsibilities of the strings of robberies committed by the now deceased Roman Torchwick, to the massacre of Leflore, the Breach, and the Vytal Festival on the Arcs. One anchor incidentally said that he thought that their inability to work with Atlas and Vale had cost the lives of so many people.

Which Qrow had to give the man marks for guts because it caused his co-anchor to remain silent out of awkwardness. He had destroyed the attempt of the news station in trying to appear neutral in the matter. Following that the entire station just set in condemning the Arcs as nothing but an outdated military fascist government.

Qrow just sighed in annoyance and switched channels until he just decided to put on some simple music. The sound of a piano filtered through his television as he connected his Scroll wirelessly to it.

As he sat there, he cleared his mind and slowed his breathing. Why did he have that dream of Sehra dying, it made no sense, was he just being crazy or was there something of truth in it.

The place in the dream wasn't like anything he had seen before, the closest seen of carnage like that was the Battle of Vale. However it never got to the point where he thought that he or Sehra were in mortal danger. He sighed once more and glanced at his scroll, today was the day he was going to go visit Tai and the girls.

He was sure that Sehra was fine.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Pyrrha once again sat in the hold of a Bullhead, Ren and Nora sat to her left, the stoic gunman listened patiently to the bubbly hammer wielder. Saul kneeled in the center of the Bullhead, once again his bulk causing more trouble for him.

The only real issue for her was the fact that Katherine was sitting across from her, in the same outfit that she wore when they first met. Her unstrung bow and sword rested across her lap, Pyrrha found it interesting that it looked to be a similar kind of sword that she had.

"I don't hate you." Katherine said simply, and Pyrrha snapped her gaze up to look her in the eyes but her eyes were closed as she rested her head against her seat. Pyrrha wasn't even sure that she said anything, looking at the others in the compartment with them; it seemed no one else noticed it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen we'll reach the airfield in four minutes." This brought a surge of newfound energy again in the three teens.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Pyrrha said a small smile spreading across her face; her teammates gave their own nods.

There was a brief rumble and a shifting of weight before the Bullhead completely stopped moving, the sound of the two engines slowly spinning off could be heard.

"Alright kids let's go." The crew chief slide the door open and the members of team JNPR stepped out of the bullhead.

Around them, dozens of Bullheads and other commercial aircraft landed or were taxied off to waiting hangers.

To the north however was the ocean, the pristine view of the open waters in the late morning sunlight was mesmerizing.

Turning to her left Pyrrha got her first glimpse of an Arcadian city; white marbled buildings could be seen covering a nearby mountain as it faced the ocean. She could see that it stretched all the way down towards them and the ocean shore.

The crunch of Saul's boots touching the ground drew her back to him and she looked up to see him smiling softly as he gestured towards the city.

"Welcome to Clove."

* * *

 **Forty Minutes Later…**

Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were escorted by Saul through the city, and Pyrrha was grateful for the older warrior to sticking by their side. Katherine had gone her own way the moment she had stepped off the Bullhead.

Pyrrha wished she had at least stayed for a while or said goodbye but the eldest Arc child had said nothing.

Returning her attention to the city around them she couldn't help but marvel at it. It reminded her of some of the ruins near Mistral in the way some of the buildings were constructed out of white marble.

Despite its size, Clove still seemed to maintain a decent amount of room for movement, the streets weren't too crowded nor were they too narrow. The sound of running water could be heard from some of the sewer gates built into the streets.

The air didn't smell foul from overpopulation and mismanagement of geographical territories. Instead it had a slight smoky smell of cooked fish and the saltiness of the ocean in the air.

The city was huge, the buildings towered over them with proper municipal functions, and people milled about their everyday business as if the seven foot tall purple armored warrior was a normal thing. Which got Pyrrha wondering, what was Saul's role or rank? He wasn't a part of the Arcadian military in a normal sense from what she could tell.

Though he still commanded a great deal of respect from just about everyone she's seen conversing with him.

"How big is this city Saul?" Ren asked as he pulled Nora away from a street vendor who was making a batch of barbeque pork on sticks.

"Hmmm, I'd say the city of Clove encompasses an area of about a hundred and ten square miles, most of it spread across the shore line while Government buildings reside mostly on the Clove Mountain range, the namesake of the city, there's about four hundred and fifty thousand Arcadian citizens living here, in addition to that there's also Fort Kirov to the south that permanently houses the 1st Army's 2nd Divisions 7th and 15th Light Infantry regiments along with 4th Divisions 3rd Armored Battalion, though that's not to say there aren't more Regiments or Divisions that are housed there, Kirov is big enough to house an entire Division, though that only happens whenever a new offensive is underway or the Arcadia got wind of major Grimm movement." Pyrrha looked back at Saul.

"How many cities are there?" Saul titled his head a little at the question before answering.

"Aside from Clove there's Thranx and its sister city Threnos, Balder, Anant, Deodatus, and the Capital, and that's not even going into the various smaller towns and forts, and of course Mechanicum Forge Cities." Pyrrha nodded mentally at that as she politely turned down an older woman who tried selling apples to her.

There was a commotion behind them and the four of them turned around. Two men armored in the black segmented armor of Sentinels, purple cloaks trailed them as they rested their gauntleted hands on their long swords. The people parted in front of them like the bow of a ship through water.

They marched behind a woman who was roughly five foot six, wearing red robes that trailed down to black boots; the hem of the robe had a golden thread. She was pale with brown hair tied up in a bun behind her head.

"Greetings Legatus legionis Saul." The woman said as she bowed her head, it was only at that did anyone of them noticed that she also had a tail. It was a fluffy brown tail that swayed back and forth slightly, akin to that of a dog that was greeting a beloved master.

"Ah Captain Clementine, what can I help you with?" The woman stood up, and pulled out a data slate, her face a mask of detachment. Saul took the device and looked over it, Pyrrha and the others could see his face darken considerably.

Almost like an aura of its own, the older warrior seemed to ooze utter violence and contempt that it made the hair on Pyrrha's neck stand up. Her instincts screamed that she needed to run or she'll die, a cold sweat broke out on her neck and she looked around her.

Everyone noticed that change in the giant's mood, Ren, Nora, the captain, the two Sentinels and even the bystanders around them. All of them just stared at the Saul, and with an impossibly deep intake of breath, he had to visibly control himself.

"Alright Captain, I'll take my leave, however in my place I would like you to escort these three right here, they're guests and friends of Jaune Arc, treat them as you would any foreign dignitary." Saul said simply as he walked past her, the two Sentinels bowed to the four of them and followed Saul.

"Hi there, I'm Captain Alice Clementine, Arcadian Military Logistics." The woman said as she turned back to them and snapped a crisp salute.

Nora, acting in Nora like fashion jumped forwarding, whooping, as she picked up the woman in a bone crushing hug.

"Nice to meet you Alice! My name is Nora Valkyrie, Pancake connoisseur, and the strongest, bravest and prettiest member of the illustrious team JNPR, this is my fabulous partner Lie Ren, Master Ninja, and Pyrrha Nikos Warrior Goddess and Lover to Jaune Arc." Nora said as she pointed to each of them, the Logistical officer just chuckled softly, though Pyrrha could see that she was struggling in the grip of the hammer wielder.

"Nora that's enough, you're gonna break the poor woman." Ren said evenly, in response Nora immediately let go of the woman and smiled sheepishly.

"Hahaha, its fine Mr. Ren." Clementine said with a smile, a hint of red touching her face.

"Please call me Ren, and it's a pleasure to meet you Ma'am." The woman looked a little puzzled at first but smiled and imitated the bow.

"Well in that case, you can call me Alice or Clementine if that's too casual for you…Ren." The woman said before turning to Pyrrha.

"You as well Ms. Nikos." Pyrrha quickly waved her hands.

"No no no, Clementine, you may address me in any way you see fit as well." The woman simply smiled as she straightened up.

"Very well, I can take you anywhere you need to go, so where was Legate Saul taking you?" The three teens looked between each other and shrugged.

"Oh…"

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Pyrrha and her teammates stood outside the gates of a massive building, several Sentinels in their black armor stood guarding the gate.

"Ya know this is the first time I've actually seen Faunus a part of the Military for Arcadia." Ren said aloud, and Pyrrha looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well haven't you noticed that every soldier that we've seen fighting have always been human?" Pyrrha thought about it and realized that Ren was right, not once had she seen a Faunus soldier except now in the case of Captain Clementine.

"I don't think they're doing it to be discriminatory." Pyrrha said after mulling it over for a moment, Ren nodded at that.

"True but it just makes me wonder why that's the case, do Faunus not enlists in the same numbers as humans or does the Arcadian Military turn them away?"

"It's a mixture of that Ren." They turned to see Captain Clementine standing behind them, her data slate held in the crook of her arm.

"The military is predominately human but it's mainly cause of the standard gear that is issued to them, most Faunus has appendages that are incompatible, for instance if a cat Faunus wants to join, the standard issue helmet would be a nuisance due to its snug enclosed environment. But we can't adapt it to fit their ears because it would compromise the effectiveness of the helmet, and since they're also meant for enclosed environments to avoid gas or other poisons effects which makes the senses of a Faunus redundant." Ren just tilted his head a little in thought.

"Interesting." Clementine continued speaking.

"That being said, the Military has plenty of other areas that regularly accept Faunus as well as Humans, the Navy, Logistics, Engineering, Pathfinders or Reconnaissance, the Sisterhood also accept Faunus in areas such as the Hospitaller sect. If I were to also point out other examples of Faunus outside of the military, you'd see that a third of the Arbiters are in fact Faunus, not only that but the illustrious Sentinel Order also has a large amount of Faunus." Clementine said as she pointed to a Sentinel with antlers that was checking identification of people passing through the gate into Administration grounds.

"Anyways, let's get you inside." Clementine said as she gestured them to follow her.

Pyrrha took a better look at the compound, the Administrative building was a tall three story building made from brinks, with various windows in the front. A cobble stone path extended from the main gate to encircle a three tier fountain that rested in front of the main door to the building.

An immaculate lawn and garden lined both sides of the cobblestone pathway. Branching off at various sections of the cobblestone path, Pyrrha could see through the iron fence that it led to various other buildings. One seemed to look like a motor pool since she could see a line of cars outside.

The other to be far more drab due to it being construct with simple concrete though it didn't have any windows. She suspected that was where the Sentinels were housed.

The Sentinels at the gate talked in hushed voices with Clementine, and before long they stepped aside as the gate swung open, and bowed at the waist as the four of them passed through.

"How many Sentinels is there Clementine, if you don't mind me asking?" Ren asked, as they walked up the pathway towards the building.

"Hmmm, I suppose I can say, well Ren, there's more or less five thousand Sentinels, and more every few years, a lot of the Sentinels are tasked with protecting the governing bodies and facilities of all the major cities, though most of them are in fact in the Capital." Ren stayed silent at this information and before they knew it, the four of them were outside of the Administration building.

Two more Sentinels stood as still and silent as statues; one was a tanned man with jet black hair, the other a woman with pink curly hair and short brown rams horns.

The doors opened and a lithe woman stepped out in a dark suit with a white shirt on underneath. Her black high heels clacked as she stepped forward, her hair was tied up neatly behind her head. Her eyes were grey, holding a cold calculating look to them as she stared intently at the three Beacon students.

"So you must be the guests that Legate Saul told me about." She said simply, her voice like the cold breath of winter to Pyrrha.

"Yes ma'am we're honored to be here." Ren said as he stepped forward, bowing at the waist slightly, the woman looked a little surprised at that.

"My, aren't you one full of manners, so you must be Lie Ren, and the girl that looks like she's going to explode must be Nora Valkyrie." She said as she looked at Nora, the hammer user was standing at rigid attention for some reason, her face going red as if she was holding her breath. The faintest hint of a smile touched the woman's mouth.

"At ease Ms. Valkyrie." With an explosive release of her breath Nora's face turned back to its normal color, the woman looks towards Pyrrha.

"Lastly you must be the Mistral Champion, Pyrrha Nikos." Pyrrha bowed slightly, the woman scoffed and waved her hand in front of her face as if warding off a bad smell.

"Enough with the blasted bowing, my name is Ella Kurt, Prefect of Clove, welcome to my city." She gestured them to follow her. Inside they stood in a large room illuminated by a crystal chandelier, tables and vases lined the walls with multiple white double doors leading to unknown rooms or parts of the building.

A large brown and white rug lay on the floor covering the white marble. Pyrrha couldn't help but be impressed by the sight.

Directly in front of them was a large oak desk with three women sitting behind it, two of them were on phones, while the third diligently did paperwork of some sort.

Kurt simply walked past them into a long hallway, men and woman dressed in fine suits or business attire walked back and forth, mostly ignoring the teens but bowing slightly to the Prefect as she passed them.

The sound of dulled chatter and phones ringing could be heard around them. While it appeared chaotic to Pyrrha she could see that no one looked overtly flustered, each person silent and thoroughly working on whatever task they have before them.

"So what exactly is it that Saul wanted us to be here for?" Ren asked as they continued to follow the Prefect, she didn't say anything else to them, aside from stopping for an occasional conversation with a staff member. Clementine had apparently gone off to do her own thing the moment they had stepped into the building.

Walking through the building for five minutes passed as they walked by various offices or rooms in which people worked, chatted with each other as they ate, or were relaxing. Kurt finally stopped in front of double doors; turning the handles she pushed the doors wide open. She turned to them and gestured for them to go on in.

The room was roughly forty by forty square foot room with white paint, it had three chairs lined up in front of a desk, in front of those chairs was on additional coffee table between two couches. A silver tea set sat in the middle of the table.

Off to the right was a red banner with the Arc emblem on it, on the left was numerous picture frames. some of them of pictures of Kurt standing next to Alexander or Arabella as she shook their hands smiling at whoever took the picture.

"So you're wondering why you're here and not going straight to the Capital with Jaune Arc." This brought a shock of surprise. They hadn't known that Jaune was separated from them as they were dropped at Clove. Kurt didn't seem to pick up their surprise or just didn't care and carried on talking.

"Well Saul felt it would be something that Mr. Arc would want you to experience, as such you'll be leaving by road to the Capital, and the journey is about a week's length at least, though it can be done in less time but that defeats the point of having you experience Arcadia. You'll be leaving in the morning, any questions?" The Prefect turned around in her chair facing away from them as if she didn't actually expect any of them to have a question.

"If you don't mind Prefect Kurt, would it be possible to get a detailed map; and a list of essential items for this journey, along with currency, and any rules or laws that we should be aware of as we travel?" Ren asked voicing the most obvious question that he could think of, the Prefect didn't turn around.

"I'll have an aide put together the items you'll need, as for currency and laws you don't have to worry about that, I figured I'd send Captain Clementine to be your liaison during your stay here in Arcadia." Ren nodded at this, it was something at least, and it wasn't as if she was launching them into a forest filled with Grimm.

"Uh… Prefect, one more thing, should we expect any…uninvited guests on this trip?" Kurt turned back in her chair; a hard look had come over her face as she stared at the magenta eyed student.

"Mr. Ren the safety is always one of my top concerns, this goes double for my city and those who reside in it, but I still take a great deal of effort to help ensure the roads are safe, so no, there shouldn't be any danger on this trip, even then there's always a Arbites or Military base within vox distance for a rapid response." Ren held up his hands to stop the Prefect from going on anymore.

"I mean no disrespect Prefect, I was just wondering, cause it sounded like that Arcadia lays claim to a vast amount of territory, and I understand that the Arcadian Military is a very vast and powerful machine but I've had more than one conversation with Jaune Arc, Saul, and even Alexander about it and they've always made an emphasis that despite that power, Arcadia still struggles to expands its borders and claim territory." All eyes were on him, except for Nora who had dozed off in her chair, the Prefect smiled.

"You're a smart one Ren; I appreciate a healthy mind with questions." Ren bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment.

"To answer your question, yes despite the fact of being arguably the strongest sovereign nation on Remnant at the moment, we still struggle to expand our territories. You're all aware the threat that Grimm pose upon us, any true significant movement of people, military or otherwise. It will always stir the attention of them even if the people aren't experiencing a heavy load of negative emotions, but it's because people forget that negative emotions aren't the only thing that draw them to us that lead them to their deaths. They want us dead, make no mistake about that, we've been locked in conflict with them for centuries and there's a reason why more than a few people consider that we're collectively losing as a species to the Grimm. Going back to your question now, the reason why we're able to maintain the Rule of Law within our claimed borders is because the various Military Forts or bases have been constructed like a network throughout the nation, they are tasked with running regular patrols, sometimes a few dozen miles are covered by a platoon of soldiers, or an entire company is sent to various towns or villages that can take weeks of travel to do before they return to their base. All of them are within vox range of another major military fort or base thus they are in constant circulation of neighboring activities and can respond accordingly. At the same time, the High Marshal has thoroughly set for a recruitment campaign for the Arbites and intense training to increase the their ranks, who in turn send out Judges to the various towns and villages to recruit and train people in the smaller towns or villages that don't warrant the presence of a high amount of Judges in assisting them in times of need or becoming apprentices who upon completing a certain amount of time under the Judges tutelage are given the chance to go to the Academies to undergo tests to see if they are truly fit to become fully fledge Judges themselves." Ren nodded at this new information, Jaune always told him that he was far from the loop of the inner structure of Arcadia as it was now so he could only tell them so much.

Saul never seemed to actually care for it in general. He would start talking about it but in the end he would just seem to grow weary of talking about it. He would also say that he was a simple soldier and was made for one thing, and that was to kill. The intricacies of nation building were concerns he wished to be separate from.

Alexander had been by far the most informative of the three but that was to be expected considering who he was. Though he would never have the time to completely give Ren a full disclosure of what Arcadia was like.

Was it because he knew pieces to the machine that was his country that he didn't want to put Ren on the course to inquire about?

Or was there something else that he was trying to hide, like how was he able to be first official ruler of Arcadia despite the records saying that Arcadia as a Kingdom has been around for centuries?

He realized that Kurt was watching him carefully, a calculating look in her eye as she rested her chin on her hand. Pyrrha just looked back and forth thoughtfully as she analyzed the new information and no doubt had more questions of her own.

"My oh my, Mr. Ren, if being a Huntsman doesn't work out for you, I have a feeling you'd fit in with the spooks over in Intelligence." Ren bowed once more, a faint smile on his face.

"Anyways, I suppose that'll be all for now, I'll have Captain Clementine escort you three to your rooms for the night, and begin preparations for your journey tomorrow."

Kurt stood up at that point and gestured for them to stay seat, and walked out of the office, leaving them alone. Pyrrha sighed and rubbed her face with one hand, Ren looked to her, a questioning look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Ren, it just feels as of late, that we haven't truly had a choice in how things are going on, why didn't they tell us we were being separated from Jaune?"

"Does it matter?" Pyrrha looked up, heat blossomed in her chest.

"Of course it matters, Jaune's wounded, we need to be there by his side, we're his friends and teammates, and we have that right." Ren held up his hands to stop the red hair girl.

"Pyrrha, please, I know you weren't expecting this and neither was I, but you have to remember there isn't actually anything we can do to help him. We're not doctors, and with Jaune still unconscious there wouldn't be any point for us to be there, so I think it's a wise thing that they're having us explore his homeland while he's not here, it keeps our minds occupied and we learn more about them and by extension him."

"But what if he does wake up? He wakes up and finds us not there; he'll think we abandoned him, that we weren't by his side when he most needed us."

"He's not going to think that Pyrrha, it's as Ms. Goodwitch told us, he wouldn't want us to gather dust as he's bedridden. He wouldn't want you to throw away your life for him." Pyrrha said nothing and looked away from him.

"Thank you Ren, but I made the mistake of leaving Jaune behind before, I won't do that again."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Saul once again found himself back at Clove's airfield; he could feel anger bubble up from a long hidden place of his mind.

Memories of a time when he was both younger and happier drifted into his mind.

With those memories, came both the good and bad. Accompanying that undiluted anger was a profound sadness that hurt to just to think about.

He looked down at the data slate in his hands, the device looked far too small in them in comparison to a regular human. The image on the screen showed a Forward Operating Base Amboss.

It was a five square mile large base with several buildings that housed personnel in the center, along with smaller hangers to the south and west for vehicles and the Mechanicus contingent stationed there. Surrounding it was grey concrete walls.

However the signs of battle were evident, none of the buildings were intact, either battered by explosives or completely collapsed. The fields surrounding them were littered with craters and the burnt out ruins of armored vehicles and downed Bullheads. To the north side was a massive hole blown by the arriving Arcadian forces.

"What do we know about the situation?" Saul asked the Sentinels behind him, the taller dark skinned man spoke.

"My lord, the company that was first on the scene indicated that it was fallen Legionnaires. Upon further assessment and orbital scans from Aeterna Ignis can corroborate with the earlier report." The Sentinel left the last words unspoken. He knew Saul's past, many of them knew in fact and it annoyed him just as much that they couldn't say it.

"The Night Haunter's bastard sons are here, the 8th Legion is on Remnant."

* * *

 **Earlier…**

The sheer volume of the weapons opening fire was deafening even with the helmet on her head. The lead armored figured exploded in a shower of sparks as small arms fire broke over the armor.

Sehra dropped to one knee and raised her bolt pistol up and took aim, lining the sights up with the lead armored figure as it pointed a meter and a half long serrated sword at her platoon.

"Death to the…" A voice boomed from the spiked helm it wore but Sehra silenced it by firing once. The face of the helm deformed upon impact followed by it coming apart completely in a shower of gore. As the body slumped to the ground the rest of the cursed warriors moved, some went to the sides as a few stood their ground and aimed bolt weapons of their own.

"3rd squad! Get those Venators moving; keep them from attacking our flanks!" There was no need to listen for an acknowledgment from Reverne. Sehra quickly switched to the Chimera drivers, their designation Hound.

"Hound 1 and Hound 2, tighten up your fire on the center, Hound 3 watch our left, and 4 our Right." There was a rumble from next to her as two of the Chimera's moved forward, their autocannons blazing a flurry of white hot shells. Her infantry squads parted to allow them to take up spots next to them as the other two took up their respective spots on their flanks per orders.

"2nd squad how's our exit?" There was a brief pause, and Sehra did her best to filter the almost constant sound of small arms and heavy weapons fire out of her attention.

"2nd squad here, exits clear, permission to take up spots on the wall to provide additional support fire?" The sound of bolters going off behind her made Sehra drop to the ground, ahead of her three troopers from Quentin's squad fell over.

One soldier had a hole in his chest large enough that Sehra could see right through it.

The second soldier was still alive as they knelt on the ground; however she noticed what was wrong immediately. Where his right arm should be attached to the shoulder was nothing, she looked away the man wouldn't live long due to blood loss.

Sehra didn't even bother with the third soldier; no one was going to get up from a missing head.

She looked back up; her squads were starting to back up as the warriors got closer to them. The autocannons of the Chimeras were the only weapons putting down the charging warriors quick enough. However there were only so many targets they can hit, added to the fact that the warriors were moving far quicker than a standard target they would deal with.

"All squads, maneuver and fire, don't let them get close to you, Hounds 1 and 2 provide covering fire until we get some distance, than leap frog with Hound 3 and 4 as they cover your retreat." There was a chorus of affirmatives from her squad leaders.

Off to their left was an explosion, Sehra whipped her head around and could see that one of the Venators was nothing but a fireball, oily black smoke mushroomed into the sky.

Another Venator skidded as it turned around and started to serpentine as if to throw off someone's aim. The gunner was firing the heavy stubber nonstop that Sehra could see the barrel glowing red.

However it was cut short as a searing bright lance of energy crossed her vision. The polarization of her visor was enough that she was able to watch the lance strike the passenger side of the Venator. In a flash of fire and smoke, the blast sent the now ruined Venator careening to the side.

"Reverne?! You got eyes on what happened?" Sehra shouted as ran, firing a few bolts at the ever closing armored figures. A few fired bolts back, most missed, one bolt caught Hall in the back of his leg. His thigh exploded in a shower of gore, and he fell forward, his arms flaying, Sehra and Madison stopped next to him.

He must have passed out with the pain as he didn't say anything as Madison started to drag him away. Blood oozing from the mangled remains of his thigh, the rest of his leg lay a few meters back where he was hit.

Sehra stood before both of them, lining her bolt pistol up with the closest target. The warrior's armor was cracked and worn in various places but the imagery of death either etched on or taken from the fallen made her stomach churn.

"Lieutenant, we've got havocs over here!" Reverne shouted, and Sehra cursed, of course that's what took out the two Venators.

"Roger that Reverne, stay out of their range, I'm moving 4th and 5th eastward, screen their advance, and I don't want to get trapped by any more of them." She didn't get to say anymore as a bolt round whipped by, inches from her helmed face.

"Mother fuckers." Sehra cursed, she wasn't sure if that came over the vox or not, but she didn't care as she unloaded the rest of her bolt pistol at a nearby warrior. The mass reactive rounds tore chunks out of the archaic breast plate, and the warrior fell back without a sound.

"2nd squad sitrep?" There was no response for a few moments as Sehra stumbled over the churned ground back to her platoon as they continued moving east. Quentin and Fallon's squads covering each other's retreat, her own squad lagged behind as they waited for her.

"2nd squad, come in!" Sehra said again as she got back to them, Hall was lying on the ground not moving, no one was attending to him. As she scanned over his body, she could see why, his chest was a mass of torn flesh, broken ribs, and distorted armor.

"Lieutenant! Come in Lieutenant, this is Hailey!" The uncharacteristically frantic voice of second squad's sergeant came over Sehra's helmet vox.

"Hailey, I'm here, what's your status?"

"We're fucked Lieutenant, they're on the wall with us, I've already lost half my squad, we're heading east along the wall." Gunfire broke over the vox and Sehra winced as the sound punched into her hearing.

"But they're closing in on us fast." Whatever else Hailey was gonna say was lost when one of the Chimera's covering the retreat of the platoon went up in flames. The explosion wasn't even thirty feet away from her, and the resulting shockwave tossed her onto her back.

For a few seconds, she couldn't see anything, she blinked and there was nothing but black. However before long her vision returned to normal and she could see a spider crack over half of her visor, rendering it useless.

With a grunt of effort she sat up, her entire body ached, reaching up she pulled the helmet off. As she looked it over, she noticed a four inch long piece of metal was embedded diagonally into the top of her helmet. The angle of penetration made it so the metal ran down the length of the inside, had it not done that, she would be dead.

The sound of autocannons and small arms fire was far more deafening without the helmet. Small fires surrounded her and she could see Madison laying a few feet away dead, a piece of metal had pierced her visor.

She looked up, the warriors were closing in, and she could see the red lights of eye optics from their helmets at this point. She got into a crouch and immediately took off towards her platoon. The crack and boom of bolters behind her sent terror down her spine, any second she was going to get hit.

Even as she got closer to the retreated Chimera's putting distance between her and the warriors, she still felt unparalleled fear.

"Lieutenant!" Two soldiers waved their arms at her from her right; in a crater was Cory and Braddeck, Sehra scampered over to them. A few bolt rounds whined through the air, so close that she could feel the air pressure of them.

"Braddeck, Cory, why are you two fucking morons not with the rest of the platoon?" Sehra snapped as she slid into the crater.

"Ah well, I tried dragging Braddeck back to safety when Hound 2 was hit, but I couldn't make it far dragging him." Sehra looked them over, aside from having their armor scuffed and dented in a few areas the two soldiers weren't in bad shape all things considering.

"Cory, how's the signal with Captain Nell?" Sehra asked as a few shots cracked overhead causing the three of them to duck instinctively.

"I checked it just before we engaged, here, it should still be working." Cory said as he gave the handset to Sehra.

"Break, Break, this is 2-1, 1-1 come in!" There was a brief pause and dread filled her at the thought the signal was down.

"2-1, this is 1-1, what the fuck is going on!?" Nell's stern voice thundered from the vox caster.

"Captain, we've engaged the Archenemy at Amboss, they appear to be legionnaires of the 8th Legion, we're unable to escape at the moment, one Chimera and two Venators are down, and I'm losing men fast." There was a pause and Sehra could imagine Captain Nell cursing up a storm.

"Roger that 2-1, I'll pass the word and bring the Company to your position, can you meet us at the gate?"

"Negative, we got pushed off the gate, we're trying to keep distance between us but we're running out of room here."

"Alright, what's their strength Lieutenant?"

"I counted at least two dozen warriors but I suspect there's more of them further into the base, be advised they've also got Havocs on the field as well." In the corner of her eye Sehra could see Cory and Braddeck looking up at something. In a flurry of movement Sehra dove to one side of the crater as they raised their rifles. The throaty snarl of a chain weapon erupted above her as a massive warrior in worn down dark blue and black armor jumped in with them.

Sehra rolled onto her back as she pulled her bolt pistol up. Cory was already dead; his torso was split from the shoulder down to the waist. Braddeck was essentially dead as well, the armored giant held the man up by the head, his feet dangling almost a meter from the ground.

"Another lackey of the corpse god." A loud grating voice boomed from the spiked helmet of the giant, he lifted an axe with serrated teeth at the edge of the axe head. The weapon roared as he revved it, the teeth blurring as they spun before the giant rammed it into Braddeck's side.

The chain axe tore through his armor as if it was nothing, blood, bones, flesh, and armor fragments flew. The resulting carnage splattered the giant and Sehra, soon the warrior stood holding half of Braddeck's body by the head, with his waist and below lying at the giant's feet.

It crushed the helmed head of Braddeck, the headless torso falling on top of the separated lower half.

She didn't wait any longer as she pulled the trigger, the pistol bucking hard in her hand as she fired repeatedly into his back.

The bolt rounds tore chunks from the armored backpack; Sehra shifted her aim and fired a mass reactive into the warrior's knee. The knee exploded in a shower of sparks and blood as the bolt round detonated in the leg.

As the warrior fell he roared, not in pain from what Sehra could tell but from rage, as he fell he flung his axe backwards. While the axe head wasn't necessarily pointed at her, her instincts screamed that the weight and force of the thrown object would no doubt hurt, a lot.

She dove to the side again as the warrior fell opposite, and despite the missing leg, he started to pick himself up, his armored gauntlet reaching for the chain axe. Sehra pointed her bolt pistol at him again and fired, the bolt round tore into the gorget of the warrior, blood and armor fragments burst out like a cloud.

She needed to get out of there; crawling to the lip of the crater she could see in the distance towards the western corner was her platoon.

They were trapped; to the southwest was a dozen more warriors proceeding slowly, firing archaic bolt weapons from their hips.

However she had a problem, if she tried to run at the moment, she would no doubt be gunned down or cut in half, because she'd have to run past the legionnaires.

In the sky above her, a single red flare shot out, Sehra looked up and smiled.

The wall to her left exploded in a shower of masonry, a few of the chunks smashed into the legionnaires sending them stumbling. From the smoke of the explosion two Predator tanks came barreling through.

Sehra watched in awe as the armored behemoths smashed into the warriors, the first one hit came apart from the force of the speeding tank. The accompanying barrel turned to a cluster of them, a flash of light followed by a thunderclap echoed out and a white shell streaked at them.

The warriors, for what credit she could begrudgingly give them, didn't panic, simply breaking up as fast as they could. The resulting explosion still sent four of them flying through the air to gouge out impacts in the earth as they fell, only one didn't stand up.

Following the two Predators was the slick and slanted surface of a Tank Hunter, the low profile tank destroyer didn't fire at the warriors immediately. Instead it's long narrow barrel swirled as if looking for an appropriate target.

Further west was another series of smaller explosions, and Sehra could see the armored bulks of Chimeras rolling through from the north gate.

That means that the rest of the company was there, the hard crack and booms of bolter fired passed overhead and she ducked back into the crater. She refused to just sit there and let the rest of them fight without her. However she couldn't get out of the crater without getting shot either by them or friendly forces.

She shoved aside the remains of Braddeck to get to Cory's body; she took a brief second for remorse at the young man's death. Not a second later, she turned his mangled body to gain access to the vox caster. She looked over the device in frustration, the blow from the legionnaire as not only split him down from the shoulder it had also torn through the vox caster.

In the corner of her eye, she saw the barrel of her rifle and she nearly slapped herself. Picking up the weapon she checked and cleared it of any mud in the firing mechanism or barrel. Satisfied she crawled back up to the lip of the crater.

In the distance she could see the rest of the company pouring through the whole in the wall. Bullets and high explosive shells whizzed overhead, the noise once more was deafening to be under, but she's experienced far worse.

Pushing the rifle up, she braced it on the lip of the character and peered through the scope at the fallen legionnaires.

Despite the arrival of tanks and more Infantry Fighting Vehicles, the legionnaires stood their ground quite well. The flash and bangs of bolter fire reaping the lives of anyone unlucky enough to be caught out by them.

She zeroed in on the closest legionnaire, a tall warrior firing a rusted looking bolt pistol. It didn't seem like he was even trying to hit anyone in the casual manner he fired. However that wasn't the case, she could see the puffs of blood from men and woman coming apart due to the mass reactive rounds.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she zeroed in on the legionnaire, she aimed for the joints. Experience had shown Sehra that while their armor is far superior to almost any other suit she's seen, it didn't mean that the armors didn't have weak spots of their own. Albeit, the weak spots on their armor would be a strong part for any regular mortal.

With a squeeze of the trigger, the rifle bucked against her shoulder, she watched as the right knee of the legionnaire exploded in a cloud of sparks and fragments.

He didn't fall instead, he turned towards her direction, but Sehra pulled the trigger again. The rifle bucked and within moments another round struck the legionnaire, but this time the round smashed into the helmet, causing the warrior to reel back for a few moments.

Sehra needed to put him down fast, the rifle bucked again as she fired, this round smashing once more into the right knee. The next round punched into the gorget of the warrior as he turned around raising his bolt pistol; again a shower of sparks came off the armor. She quickly put the next round once more into the helm of the warrior.

Sehra pulled the trigger again but there was nothing but a dry click, the magazine was emptying. She pulled it out and started to fish for another one when the rifle was torn out of her hands, shattered. With a yelp she fell back into the crater on top of Cory's corpse.

Her face stung, she reached up and touched her cheek, wincing as her fingertips touched a laceration on her cheek. Looking over at her rifle she could see that it was shattered in two, she reckoned she was unlucky enough for a bolt round to hit her rifle. Then it occurred that there was a distinct possibility that it wasn't bad luck.

Pulling out her bolt pistol again, she had three magazines left, including the one in the bolt pistol at the moment. She debated about arming herself with Cory's or Braddeck's rifle but the Agrippina doesn't have the stopping power to deal with legionnaires.

She got up and crawled to the top of the crater again, looking out, the warrior she was fighting earlier was gone. Looking around she could see that the fighting was at a stalemate. The sound of an engine behind her caused Sehra to roll onto her back with her pistol ready.

"Lieutenant! Get in!" Reverne shouted from the driver seat of a Venator that pulled up next to the crater. The loud roar of the heavy stubber forced him to shout as loud as he could, Sehra scrambled out of the crater and in a slight crouch ran towards the passenger side.

The moment she was in, he hit the gas pedal and the Venator shot off, turning the steering wheel rapidly to the right. The Venator spun around and shot off towards the far east corner where the remains of her platoon held out.

"You see anyone else out there Lieutenant, I can pick them up after I drop you off?!" Reverne shouted to be heard over the roar of the engine and the heavy stubber that was being fired in sporadic bursts.

"No! I saw Madison die, Cory and Braddeck as well!" She shouted back as another particularly loud explosion happened behind them, most likely the tanks firing at something. The Venator drifted to halt in the dirt in front of the sole remaining Chimera; the other two had been destroyed by the Havocs still in play. Though where they were, Sehra had no clue.

"FUCK! Incoming!" The gunner on the Venator screamed as he jumped off the gun, Sehra and Reverne didn't look for whatever was coming to kill them. Both of them instead just jumped out of their respective seats to take cover.

Sehra could feel an intense heat source come in and seconds later the Venator exploded into a fiery explosion. The pressure from the explosion kept her face planted into the ground, and heat pricked her backside. The back of her head felt as if someone had dumped hot water on it.

Turning around she could see that Reverne and his trooper were fine as well if not dazed by the explosion. The three of them scrambled up and made the last few meters to the defensive line her platoon had made.

As Sehra looked around past the Chimera she could see that she luckily enough didn't have any wounded. The sad fact about that was that it guaranteed that they were all dead.

Quentin who stood with four of his squad behind a wrecked Venator saluted her quickly before returning their attention to the ongoing battle. Passing by it she could still feel heating emitting from the twisted, blackened metal.

A few of the heavy support troopers were still adding to the fighting by firing short bursts at anything in range, the two remaining marksman in the platoon were on the wall taking shots at the legionnaires.

Sehra turned to see Geri; jogged towards her, the NCO snapped a crisp salute which Sehra waved down. Sehra didn't exactly want to paint herself as a target being identified as the platoon leader in the middle of a battle.

"Sitrep Sergeant, how are we looking?" The stoic woman shook her helmed head.

"We're pretty messed up Ma'am, second squad is practically gone, fourth took a few hits so they're down four, fifth squad is down for the count as well, third only has four remaining, and since Braddeck, Cory, and Madison aren't with you, I assume they're dead, we're down to seven with Urloy and Kloos are dead."

"Six, Hall is dead as well." Geri paused at that before nodding at that. There was another series of explosions closer to them. Sehra with Geri tailing her, moved past the remaining Chimera, its left side was riddled with dents from bolt rounds.

In the distance a fresh wreck of a Chimera burned in the field, a few figures could be seen firing at more Legionnaires. The company was slowly being pushed back towards the north gate, and the hole they made in the wall.

A few legionnaires turned their attention back towards them, bolt rounds streaking in. Thankfully Sehra and her soldiers took cover behind the ruins of one of the destroyed Venator's. Though the sound of hard impacts on the metal hulls could still be heard and felt.

"Alright, gather the platoon we're getting back into this fight." Sehra said Geri whipped her head around. Sehra reckoned that if Geri didn't have her helmet on she would be surprised that she just ordered that.

"Now sergeant." Geri nodded and immediately started to gather every abled body soldier; Sehra peered back around to look for the closest targets.

Directly south of them she could see half a dozen legionnaires striding towards them. Firing loosely from their waists, the bolt rounds shattered explosively against the hull of the burnt out Chimera she was standing behind.

She turned to see Geri returning with the remains of her platoon. They entered sixty strong, excluding the twelve men and women of the Chimeras.

Now there were only twenty seven of them left, starting with her squad, of which only six members remained. Second squad was now only down to sergeant Hailey and one other soldier.

Third squad was in a similar situation as Sehra's, they only had six left. Fourth squad was the largest with eight remaining soldiers.

Fifth squad had only five left led by the squads second in command, Corporal Troung. She had been a fresh faced corporal who was transferred a few weeks back from the Arcadia. Now Troung already had that the same deaden look in her eyes that many of the younger generation get, once they tasted combat.

"Alright, we're gonna take out the legionnaires approaching us before we move into a position to support the rest of the company, Reverne, you've still got the most firepower so get on the wall and move up to get a better angle on the fuckers. My squad will take the center; Quentin you're on my right and Hailey, you and Troung are on my left, the Chimera will bring up the rear as it provides covering fire." The assembled soldiers nodded, now wasn't the time for words but action.

In the distance the crackle and muffled booms of explosions could still be heard. Sehra watched as another Chimera went up in flames. If Captain Nell didn't find those Havocs they're gonna wreak havoc on the armor. She slapped her forehead, as she registered what she thought, picking up a few bad habits from a certain someone.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Qrow sneezed loudly, and sighed irritably, before wiping his nose.

"Jeez that came out of nowhere." He remarked aloud.

"Tell me about it…" Taiyang Xiao Long gritted through his teeth, the look of utter hatred filled his eyes, and Qrow shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"Woops?"

* * *

 **Forward Operating Base Amboss…**

Sehra jogged over to the Chimera and popped open the back hatch, climbing in, she made her way to the front and rapped her knuckles on the metal hatch that led to the crew.

"What!?" A loud voice boomed from inside, the sound of gunfire and explosions were muffled by the inside but it still required a person to speak a little louder than normal.

"It's Lieutenant Muril; I need to inform you what the plan is!" The small hatch opened, an older man with oil stained overalls, with a simple chest plate and a headset appeared. Sehra could help but notice that the man had a standard issue sidearm in hand.

"Why didn't you just vox us Lieutenant?" The man asked, Sehra just smiled and pointed at her head.

"Lost my helmet and I don't have a spare headset to use." The man nodded.

"So what's this plan you mentioned Lieutenant?"

"Ah well it's simple, we're going to support Captain Nell and the rest of the Company but before we do that we've got legion foe between us, we're gonna need to take them out before moving to support because I don't want to move knowing we got one of those fuckers behind us." The man grunted his agreement.

"So we're gonna move on them, I've got one squad heading up on the wall to provide support, what I need you to do is to keep their heads down until we get into position, once that occurs you swing far right then close in on them and that should finish them off." The man nodded slowly, as if thinking about something.

"Sounds like a good plan but just so you know we don't have a lot of rounds left for the autocannon, about..." The man turned back inside, probably to consult another crew member before turning around.

"We've got a little less than two hundred and ten rounds for the autocannon and a few thousand rounds left for the heavy stubber, so if we're not careful and handle it effectively we're gonna be nothing but moving cover." Sehra nodded at this and turned away, jumping back out of the Chimera.

Reverne had already gotten onto the wall and was making his way down its length to get into position. The rest of the platoon had taken up positions outside, Sehra crouched and ran forward meeting up with the rest of her squad in the center.

Aside from Sehra and Geri, there was still Gillian, Ferguson, Hendricks, and Webley. It hurt Sehra to see once again that she was unable to save the lives of both her squad and platoon. She looked up into the sky; the once blue day was taken over by the black clouds of smoke from the fighting.

The chirpy, peaceful, sounds of nature she had heard earlier when moving on foot to the Amboss checkpoint were gone. It was now replaced by the staccato fire of small arms, the thumps and bangs of explosion with the sound of people dying as a soft undertone.

"Lieutenant?" The voice snapped her out of it and she looked around to see that her squad was looking at her, while she can't see their expression their body language indicated that they were all puzzled by her.

"Right, don't mind me." She checked her bolt pistol before looking up, fierce determination burned in her chest.

"Let's go." She said simply and started moving forward, crouched low she passed the wrecks of the platoons armor. She could hear the booted feet stomping on the ground near her, the Chimera's autocannon came to life, and several bright streaks of shells shot forth over head.

Return fire from the legionnaires streaked through the air, Sehra kept pushing them forward. They had already left cover, turning back would only get them all killed.

They were getting close now, less than sixty meters away, Sehra dropped to the ground, the rest of her squad following suit. Her other squads took the hint and dropped to the ground, bolt rounds smacked into the ground a few feet away, throwing up chunks of dirt.

"Open Fire!" Sehra screamed as she took aim at the nearest, the warrior seemed to know that she had drawn a bead on him; he swung his bolter towards her. The flash of the weapon stung her eyes but she didn't waver even as she felt a bolt round strike the ground a few inches away from her leg.

She could feel the impact and subsequent detonation as the internal trigger for the bolt were set off. She fired half a dozen bolts in return. The first two sparked as the bolt bounced off his armor, the rest smashed into the torso of the legionnaire.

Even then he didn't seem like he was going to fall but a torrent of Agrippina fire from several soldiers smashed into him. The bullets sparked as most of them failed to penetrate the armor of the legionnaire, however the rupture holes from her bolt shells allowed for a number of bullets to hit the legionnaire.

In addition, the kinetic force was able to fully knock down the legionnaire, he didn't get up. The rest of the legionnaires shifted from their nonchalant appearance to treating her platoon more of an annoyance than a threat.

A few of the bolt rounds seemed to have found targets as she could hear the screams of pain of her soldiers dying. She continued to fire but the legionnaires were starting to move and it was getting difficult to get a decent shot on them.

More gunfire echoed from the wall to their far left, and a rocket streaked out exploding at the feet of another legionnaire. The armored bulk of the warrior wasn't enough to keep him from flying back a dozen feet, though he shortly got up, but instead of bearing down on Hailey and Troung.

The warrior instead started to fire up towards the wall, but the protection of the ramparts was enough that none of the bolt rounds hit their marks. Heavy stubber fire continued to flash out, along with the sharp reports of Reverne's rifle.

There were four legionnaires left; the second had died a few minutes after Sehra had taken down the first one. The fallen legionnaire had taken a couple of autocannon shells directly to the torso from the platoon's sole remaining Chimera as if moved to their right.

The standard suit of armor that was given to the Legions was strong enough to take the combined fire of a dozen or more rifle with ease. Though given enough rifles even they would falter under the weight of fire, this has been tested numerous times in Arcadia. However the suits aren't the main problem, it always comes down to the user.

Legatus legionis Saul had proven that point, after attaining approval from High Lord Alexander himself. He had an entire platoon of Arcadian soldiers try to incapacitate him, going so far as giving them live ammo to use on him.

While he simply took a shock maul, used by the Arbites. The shock maul was a suppressive weapon used by the Judges; the maul releases a powerful jolt of electricity upon contact with whatever individual that is targeted.

The jolt of electricity was powerful enough to seize up the targets muscles. In addition the shock maul was a very effective bludgeon.

Many people thought it was a crazy match up. Sehra and many veterans with knowledge of Saul's kind knew the outcome before it even started. In less than five minutes Saul was able to incapacitate the entire platoon.

He never came under the full force of the platoon's fire; always moving faster than most if not all of them could react too. Closing the distance faster than any mortal could do, the Legate demonstrated that they should never take legion foes lightly.

"Fuck me sideways man." Gillian yelled from her left and Sehra could see that the barrel of his heavy stubber was steaming; the black metal was red at the tip. Gillian had overheated the barrel, now the barrel was drooping.

An overheated barrel was a dangerous thing to use, metal expanded when heated up. An overheated barrel decreases the accuracy of the weapon, and increases the chance for a bullet to get lodged in the barrel leading catastrophic results for the operator.

"You have a spare barrel?" Sehra asked as she fired a few shots at a legionnaire; however both bolts missed as the legionnaire moved out of the way.

"Negative ma'am I already used my spare." Gillian said as he abandoned the heavy stubber and pulled out his standard issued sidearm, pulling back the slide to chamber a round. More shots cracked past her as the platoon fired at the legionnaires.

Two of the legionnaires apparently had enough of the shooting and started closing in fast on the platoon. The rate of fire increased as the most of her squad and fourth squad focused fire on them. She could see the Chimera was swinging around, slowly firing a handful of shots at the legionnaires as they closed in on them.

A few of her soldiers start priming and throwing grenades to keep the legionnaires from closing in on them. Sehra cursed as the legionnaires still were coming close, if they moved the legionnaires would have a clear shot at their backs but if they stayed there they would probably get cleaved apart.

Another rocket streaked out from her left on the wall and exploded a few dozen feet away from her; displaced air blew her hair back. A legionnaire came barreling out the smoke and Gillian immediately started to unload his handgun, along with Geri and Yuri the other soldier from Hailey's squad opened fired.

Sehra swung her bolt pistol around and pulled the trigger but there was nothing but a hollow click, the magazine was empty. Two more soldiers from Troung's squad turned and fired on the legionnaire, Sehra pulled the magazine out and swiftly inserted a new one.

In that time the legionnaire had fired another burst from his bolter, a dozen bolt rounds hit one of the Troung's squad members, the man came apart in a shower of blood, bone, cloth and armor.

Following that, he threw his bolter, though what some may think was a thoughtless act upon hearing it. Have never witness the strength of a legionnaire, the legionnaire had thrown it at Gillian.

The heavy support specialist cursed as he tried to get out of the way but was too slow, the bolter smashed into his left arm, and Sehra could hear something audibly crack.

The legionnaire was a dozen feet away, pulling out a gladius, though instead of holding onto it, he threw that as well. Sehra cursed as she also tried getting out of the way as well and aim her bolt pistol but the blade buried itself almost a foot into her right leg.

Sehra screamed in pain as she fell down, she unloaded her bolt pistol, though her aim was lousy as she tried to focus through the pain. Most of the shots went wide or sparked off the legionnaire's armor due to bad angle. Luckily enough, two bolt rounds penetrate the horned skull with red wings painted on either side that marked his chest plate.

The bolt rounds detonated and a dinner plate sized hole appeared, blood and fragments of armor splattered her, she could feel a piece of armor scratch her left cheek.

"Lieutenant!" Geri cried as she rushed over to her side, she continued to fire short bursts at the remaining legionnaire. All around her renewed rifle fire erupted along her battle line. The roar of the autocannon started up again though not as steady methodological like before.

Sehra dropped her bolt pistol, looking down she could see that the gladius was buried deep in her leg. She reached behind her thigh and felt the sharp point of a blade sticking out. Her gloved hand came away slick with her own blood.

"Fucking shit, fuck that guy." Sehra cursed, mainly to herself through gritted teeth. Gillian appeared next to them. Sehra could see his left arm hanging at his side motionless, Sehra nodded to it.

"Fucker dislocated the arm and I'm pretty sure I've got some fractures either in my clavicle or scapula, I don't know but it fucking hurts." Sehra narrowed her eyes as the gunfire along her line started to abate; she looked up in dread at Geri.

"Fuck do we have enough ammo?" Geri shook her head.

"No Ma'am we're fine on ammo, plenty of bodies had spare magazines, the Chimera just finished off the last of the legionnaires, Troung's squad is just checking to see if the legionnaires are dead now."

"Fuck the Chimera probably is black on ammo." Sehra said, Geri pulled out a medical field kit, Sehra knew what was gonna come next and she was gonna hate it.

"Gillian, you think you can help me with this?" Geri said gesturing to the gladius, the rest of the platoon was starting to converge on their position.

"I'm gonna need some help, cause it be better with someone with the usage of two arms, Sarge." Gillian said Geri turned to Yuri who was still watching the surrounding landscape.

"Yuri, come help me with this." The soldier turned to face her, the helmet hid the face but it seemed to be looking at the sword.

"Alright." Yuri said a gruff feminine voice spoke from the external speakers of the helmet. Both Yuri and Gillian gripped the gladius the best to their ability while Geri held Sehra's leg to prevent her from moving too much.

Sehra laid down on the ground, gritting her teeth in pain as they started to pull the sword out, Sehra clenched her hands, her vision seemed to constrict there was an itching sensation that seemed to be behind her eyes. Her breath came in raggedly as the sword finally came away, blood dripping down the blade.

Geri immediately about to ripping open the cloth of Sehra's pant fatigues, blood wept from the open wound in waves corresponding with Sehra's heartbeat. Geri took off her helmet, setting it under Sehra's foot; Geri took off her gloves and fished through the medical field kit.

She pulled out a disinfectant gel and rubbed her hands with it quickly before taking out a clean towel. She wiped away the blood before getting a folded wad of gauze and pressing it onto the underside of her leg. Yuri took some gauze and pressed it onto the top of the thigh.

"Gotta see if we can stop the bleeding if not, grab the tourniquet cause that much bleeding would mean that something got nicked bad." Geri said as she focused on keep the back of her lieutenant's thigh from bleeding too much.

Gunfire echoed in the distance, Geri quickly looked up to see that almost all of the company's Chimeras were destroyed. One of the Predators was trailing smoke as it slowed backed up; Geri could see a crew member manning a pintle mount heavy stubber firing haphazardly at the legionnaires.

The second Predator had already made it back to the wall with the remains of the company forming around it. The tank hunter on the other hand had been destroyed, even from that distance; Geri could see that it was nothing but a big bonfire now.

Focusing back on that task before her, she removed the gauze, it was soaked through, and she flung it away, immediately took a second set and pressed it against her leg. Sehra had passed out; Yuri took out more gauze and pressed it against the wound.

"I think the bleeding is slowing down." Yuri commented Geri looked down at the top of her leg; the gauze wasn't as soaked as the first time. She removed her own and looked at it; the wound wasn't bleeding as bad, though it hadn't stopped fully.

Bolter fired cracked overhead, most of the platoon ducked; Troung and Quentin pushed their squads forward. The sharp reports of rifle fire started up closer to them. She filtered them out, and focused on her unconscious platoon leader.

She was pale and sweating, she checked her pulse, it was a little slow but steady. She checked the wound again; the bleeding was still there but practically all but gone. She exhaled slowly, it was practically a miracle that nothing important was cut or damaged.

"Alright, we've got to clean the wound once more than wrap it up, nice and tight." Geri said, as both she and Yuri set to the task. They covered the wound with disinfectant gel, then applying a clean bandage; they finished it off by wrapping gauze around it.

"Sarge, look up in the sky!" Gillian shouted and Geri looked up, dozens of Bullheads were diving down from the sky. The lead dozen were a hundred feet from the ground, a few dozens of rockets flashed out, streaking towards the legionnaires.

A ripple of explosions emerged, gusts of heated air brushed against them, Geri covered her Lieutenant. As dirt covered all of them, the sound of autocannons and heavy stubbers filled the air. Geri looked back up and could see that more Bullheads were surrounding the perimeter of Amboss.

Bolter fire from the fallen legionnaires cracked up, but most of them bounced or shattered harmlessly against the armored hulls of the Bullheads.

Two searing lances of energy flashed out from the central buildings, and Geri looked up to see two burning Bullheads fall. One Bullhead nosed dived completely into the ground, exploding into a massive cloud of fire.

The second Bullhead unfortunately smashed into a third Bullhead at full force. The resulting explosion showered the surrounding area in fiery debris.

Several Bullheads immediately zoned in on the shots, and started firing rockets liberally towards the complex. More lances of energy shot out from various other points on the base, causing most of the Bullheads to start taking evasive maneuvers.

Flying low and fast the Bullheads sent rockets or fired bursts of autocannon shells on targets of opportunity. Some quickly stopped at various corners of the base to disgorge Arcadian Infantry into the fight.

"Pop Smoke!" Geri screamed and fished out a smoke canister from her webbing, pulling the pin she tossed it ahead of her a few dozen feet. It exploded and green smoke started wafting through the air. Hailey and Quentin threw canisters as well.

Green smoke obscured their vision, but was quickly dispelled as four Bullheads landed in front of them. Arcadian infantry in full battle dressed jumped out taking up position in front of the Bullheads. The crackle of rifle fire increased, with the dull flashes and booms of more rocket strikes of waiting aircraft sent hurtling towards the legionnaires.

Geri quickly motioned for Yuri to help her and the two soldiers lifted their lieutenant up between them while Gillian ran forward to stop one of the Bullheads from taking off. The crew chief jumped out of the nearest Bullhead and rushed over to assist them in carrying Sehra onboard.

Geri sent Gillian and Yuri as well to accompany her, the side doors slide closed, Geri stepped away as the engine flared, lifting the Bullhead up. As the Bullhead took off, a full squad of soldiers came over to her.

"2nd squad, Baker Company, 3rd Battalion of the 77th." The lead soldier said, snapping a quick salute, Geri gave her own salute in return.

"What can I help ya with sergeant?" Geri said as she slipped her helmet back over her head, stooping down to pick up her rifle and Sehra's bolt pistol.

"Well word is that your company is being pulled out for debrief, we'll handle the rest." Geri nodded and clicked her vox to the platoon frequency.

"This is Geri, all squads form on me." There was a chorus of acknowledgements from Hailey, Troung, and Quentin but no reply from Reverne.

"2-3, this is 2-1 how copy?" Still there was no response. Something in her gut said that something was wrong, and Sehra always told her to follow her gut. She looked around; the rest of the platoon was around her, waiting for orders. Though she noticed with a grimace that there were even less of them then before, only fourteen soldiers were left, excluding Gillian, Yuri and the Lieutenant.

"Anyone have eyes on 3rd squad?"

"Negative on that sergeant, they haven't fired or moved from that position since the Bullheads started coming down, as far as I can tell they're still there." Hailey called out, and Geri checked her rifle, pulling out the nearly spent magazine then slamming home a new one.

"All squads on me, we're finding 3rd squad." Geri said and the last fourteen members of the platoon started jogging towards the eastern wall.

The once smooth walls of the base were tarnished by combat; chunks of masonry were destroyed or dislodged by explosives or small arms fire. The steel doors leading to the interior of the wall were smashed open, similar to how the checkpoint was when they came up on it.

Hailey joined Geri outside the doorway; Geri took up position to the right side of the doorway as Hailey took the left. The rest of the platoon lined up behind both of them.

"Count of 3." Geri said over the platoon vox channel, Hailey nodded, Geri could feel the men and women behind her tense up.

"1…2…3!" Geri said and turned the corner her rifle held at the ready, Hailey crouched on one knee, her shotgun sweeping the corridor. However there was nothing there except for some pocket marks from gunfire.

"Go." Geri said and Hailey moved forward her shotgun held ready, she moved to far end of the corridor. She kept on the right side of the hallway, sliding against the wall before stopping at bend, she peered around quickly than crouched again as she stepped out of cover.

"Clear." She said over the vox, Geri and the rest of the platoon slowly filed into the wall. Hailey moved up the metal stairs, there weren't any signs of fighting or indication of the enemy.

Before she knew it, she had reached the access door to the wall ramparts. She looked back to see that the platoon was on the stairs behind her, she reached out to the handle of the door as Geri and Ferguson closed in with her.

She flung the door open and the three of them stepped out with their weapons held up, scanning the ramparts. There was nothing, above them the Bullheads didn't see to pay any attention to them, instead focusing on firing on the thinning numbers of legionnaires or disgorging their infantry passengers.

Geri led the platoon down the ramparts to where 3rd squad was supposed to be. Ahead of them was one of the guard towers, the hatch was ripped open on this one as well. Geri stepped in and regretted what she saw.

The interior of the tower was a simple room with a ladder that led upwards to the top was where the autocannons were. Another hatch on the floor led to a ammo store room for the autocannons. Four lights on chains were attached to the ceiling bathing the room in a soft yellow glow.

Strung up on the walls, was Reverne and his squad. Though to be more accurate, it was just their head on the walls. Each solder had a metal spike rammed through their forehead, with their eyes missing, leaving trails of blood down their faces.

Their bodies lay smashed and torn apart at their feet, blood pooled every inch of the floor. However scrawled on the walls were three words that told Geri. A nightmare had been escaped, was now stalking the unsuspecting and ill prepared world of Remnant. Geri uttered three blood chilling words.

"Ave Dominus Nox."

* * *

 **Oh dear, looks like the the Night Haunter AKA Space Batman who's gone bat shit crazy (No Pun intended) AKA Konrad Curze's sons, the Night Lords or the 8th Legion has come to Remnant...**

 **Pyrrha's losing her shit...**

 **Sehra is getting a free ride from Uber...**

 **And Qrow's running away after sneezing in Taiyang's face...**

 **Sounds like a productive day to me.**

 **Anyways leave a comment or review on anything you have or want to say. I always enjoy reading what you write, even if you're not happy with I'm doing, I appreciate it nonetheless.**

 **Till next time my dear readers...**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey there folks.**

 **Sorry about the late update, I was dealing with Finals and time sort of got away from me.**

 **Anyways, here's the next chapter, enjoy.**

 ***IMPORTANT***

 **I have some personal things that I need to deal with. So Chapter 16 will be put on the back burner for the time being, I'll still work on it here and there but for now do not expect the next chapter within 1 to 3 weeks.**

* * *

Chapter 15

Pyrrha could both feel and hear the soft vibrations of her scroll on the nightstand next to her. Slowly opening her eyes she peered out into the dark room that she was staying in. She sighed, sleep had eluded her for most of the night, whether it was excitement or anxiety, she wasn't sure.

She threw the duvets off her, and swung her feet out of bed and turned off the alarm on her scroll. Today was the day that they would begin their road trip.

She couldn't help but feel excited about that, then again, everything was exciting about this trip. First the journey into space on a massive ship, that could travel the world in less than two hours. Then seeing one of Arcadia's main cities that almost no one alive from the Four Kingdoms has seen, it was amazing.

She turned on the nightstand's lamp and quickly fixed the bed, it would be rude of her to leave it in a messy state after she left. Finishing up with that she checked her scroll, she still had twenty minutes left before Clementine was supposed to be here to pick them up.

She decided to head into the bathroom and take a shower, her pick of clothes were already folded neatly on the counter of the bathroom sink.

As the warm water splashed over her, Pyrrha couldn't help but close her eyes as the warmth seeped into her body and think of a certain blond boy.

She wondered how he was doing, was he still unconscious? Will he be up on his feet by the time they get to the Capital? When he wakes up, will he remember what happened at Beacon? Will he hate her? Will he leave?

These were question that on top of the nightmares that continued to plague Pyrrha had started to circulate around her mind. She turned off the shower and stepped out, drying herself off, and putting on her clothes.

She stepped out into the room and could hear steps on the other side of the wall. That must have meant Ren was awake, she opened her door and peeked into the hall. The gunman stood with a hand pressed to his eyes in the dark hallway but the light of Pyrrha's room gave enough illumination that she could see him vaguely.

"Ren?" His head shot up, and the hand drifted away from his face, and for a few seconds he didn't say anything.

"Yes Pyrrha?"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I guess I'm not used to waking myself up so early, you and Jaune were always the first ones up, and he would wake me up." Pyrrha didn't say anything to that at first.

"I guess you're right, Jaune always was the first to wake up even before me." Ren stepped closer and Pyrrha could see his eyes were a little red. Something twisted in her stomach because she had the feeling that it wasn't because of interrupted sleep that caused that.

"I already have Nora in the shower and we've got out bags packed by the front door."

"Alright, I'll bring my stuff down later." Ren nodded slowly.

"So, you excited?"

"Excited is an understatement, traveling by ground through the Arcadia seems so unreal."

"Yes, it makes you wonder what it would be like if the outside was like this." Something about that statement made Pyrrha pause, there was more to that than Ren was letting on. However the stoic gunman rarely talked unless necessary and only kept to the relative topic, he looked towards her.

"Well, I'll see you downstairs; I gotta go check on Nora." Pyrrha laugh quietly softly and closed the door to get her belongings.

Roughly ten minutes later, Pyrrha opened the wood and glass front door of the three story apartment that Clementine had shown them yesterday, she was hit by the cool air of early morning.

Pyrrha looked back up at the building. It was a simple brick and mortar building with half a dozen windows spread evenly across the three floors. White marble formed the staircase leading up to the brown wood and glass door of the apartment building.

Looking around to survey the street in the dimness of the early morning Pyrrha could see that all the buildings were constructed in a similar fashion.

This brought the thought of how expansive it must be to live in this neighborhood. Her room was a very well furbished room with modern appliances, high quality furniture, and decorations. That she doubt she could continuously afford even with all the prize money and sponsorships of the Tournaments she's won.

Pyrrha stifled a yawn as she covered her mouth with one hand. She was still tired it seemed, plus with it being still dark outside and the cool air of the ocean wasn't helping her stay awake. Pyrrha slipped her duffel bag off her shoulder, setting it on the ground.

She wore a blue and black checkered flannel shirt over a black V-neck. In addition, she wore grey cargo pants that were tucked into shin high black boots that she got back in Vale.

Pyrrha had yet to repair her normal outfit. She wasn't sure if she wanted to keep it anymore but the memories associated with it wasn't something that she wanted to get rid of. Though she knew that she would never get rid of her circlet, it was as much of her as her own skin at this point.

She looked around for her teammates. Sitting on the curb of the street, she could make out their faint form in the dark. As she sat next to them and looked to see how they were holding up, she couldn't help but smile a little.

Nora was curled up with her head resting on Ren's lap. He seemed to be the only one fully awake as his eyes starred at the buildings across the street.

However Pyrrha knew that Ren was in fact asleep, it was a tactic he somehow learned of going to sleep with his eyes opened that he used in Port's Class. Even then it was interesting how they looked content together despite the collective unconsciousness they were exhibiting.

Pyrrha smiled as she remembered Jaune pointing it out to her upon figuring it out first. Thinking about Jaune once again filled her with an icy chill.

Once again she couldn't help but think of that night. It was the night that not only nearly got her killed but did in fact end up killing Alexander and putting Jaune in a critical state.

She could imagine the hate and pain in his eyes when he shielded her. As the background behind him was framed by the intense fighting of Alexander and Cinder, it squeezed her heart every time.

She could remember being by his side as the glass shard was embedded in his chest, his flesh going gray as he bled out. She could see him looking at her with dead eyes asking why she did this to him, why did she let him die.

Her hands started to shake and a burn worked up in her chest as a cold sweat started to break out on her forehead.

With a deep and shaky breath, Pyrrha shook her head; it was too early for those thoughts. He lived, and now was getting treated in a city that no one from the outside world could ever hope to bring down.

She would make it up to him when she sees him again, she wouldn't abandon him.

There was a deep rumble of an engine from her left and Pyrrha turned to see their ride for this trip.

It was a matte grey four door jeep with a light bar attached above the windshield. Behind the light bar was an exterior storage area.

As the jeep pulled up, Pyrrha could see an additional external storage area on the back on either side of a spare tire. Though those slots were already filled, side by side there was four bright red jerry cans, no doubt filled with extra fuel.

The engine turned off, and Clementine stepped out. She was dressed in a pair of black military fatigue trousers that were tucked into black shin high boots. She wore a grey shirt that was tucked in her waist and her hair was tired into a bun.

"I see you're all ready for this trip?" Clementine jokingly said as she looked at the three tired Beacon students.

Ren's eyes refocused as he gently shook Nora awake, who weakly slapped his hand away muttering about pouring syrup on something. Pyrrha wasn't sure but it sounded like she was talking about eating syrup off Ren, she looked at Clementine.

"Ready as we'll ever be." She said simply, Clementine chuckled as she moved around the front of the jeep.

"Well we should get your belongings on board now, here let me get that." She said as she reached down for Pyrrha's duffel bag, Pyrrha stooped down and picked it up.

"Ah, no it's fine, I can handle mine, though Ren might need some help with Nora's stuff." Clementine looked a little surprised but smiled and nodded nonetheless.

"Well that's fine; the storage areas have straps so you can just buckle them in, and tighten them if necessary." Clementine called out as she went over to help Ren.

Pyrrha stepped up on the side skirts, than onto the roof of the jeep and started strapping her bag. She debated about unhooking Crocea Mors and her borrowed sword but decided against it, she didn't want to cram the inside of the jeep with the two swords.

Instead she elected to keep a few of the throwing knives and the kukri knife on her; they were smaller easier to carry on person.

She climbed back down and looked towards her teammates. Ren and Nora had finally started to gather their belongings; Nora picked up her jacket and slipped it on, as she stifled a yawn of her own.

"Morning Pyr." Pyrrha smiled in return at hearing her drowsy teammate.

"Hello Nora, how was your sleep?"

"Gah, it was terrible, had a nightmare that we wouldn't get to taste Ren's pancakes for a whole week!" Pyrrha chuckled slightly as she shook her head as she held her hand to her chest in mock dismay.

"The horror." Nora grinned.

"I know right?" Pyrrha helped Ren strap the rest of their bags onto the top of the jeep. The first rays of the morning suns started to poke over the horizon. Though the city had already started to rouse itself awake, the sound of market stall owners and motorized vehicles could be heard. A box truck drove by, and Pyrrha couldn't help but wonder what its purpose.

"Is the city always this busy in the mornings?" Pyrrha asked Clementine while Ren and Nora started packing more supplies inside of the jeep.

"Yea, Clove is the main hub for the fishing industry in this region of Arcadia, there's a few smaller port cities but they all come through Clove to do most of the selling of their surplus fish." Pyrrha hummed in thought at that.

"That's the last of it." Ren called out, and Pyrrha turned to see that indeed, all their bags and supplies were neatly tucked away, either on the roof or in the back of the jeep.

"So I guess that means we're heading out now?" Pyrrha asked looking at Clementine, the Faunus captain nodded.

"ROAD TRIP!" Nora shouted from the inside of the jeep, and they could tell that she was bouncing in anticipation by the jeep shaking. Ren simply shrugged and opened the door climbing into the back seat with Nora.

Clementine walked back around to the left side of the jeep opening the door to the driver seat, but paused before getting in.

"Are you coming Pyrrha?" Pyrrha realized that she hadn't made a move since they started getting in.

"I'm sorry I must have spaced out for a second." She said sheepishly before opening the right side door and climbing into the interior. Pyrrha could feel the seat pressing against her back softly, it was surprisingly comfortable, of which she was glad. It didn't seem like it would be a good idea to travel by road with uncomfortable seating.

To her left was a digital display, which was black, though the time was still shown in the upper right hand corner.

There was a series of buttons that lined right underneath the display. Pyrrha couldn't resist clicking it. The display lighted up, and music started playing through various speakers around the inside.

Pyrrha clicked another button and a list of scroll numbers appeared on the screen, she assumed that they must be work related so she clicked the next which brought up a map with a bright dot in the middle. That was strange, is seemed like a map, and judging by the image, it was of Clove.

"Uh, Clementine, what's this?" Pyrrha asked looking over at Clementine as she started to jeep's engine; she glanced at the screen and furrowed her eyebrows at Pyrrha.

"It's the GPS?" Pyrrha looked blankly back at her, Clementine looked at Nora and Ren, and both looked just as confused.

"The Global Positioning System?" Clementine asked, Nora just shrugged, while Pyrrha smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry Clementine, but we don't know what that is." Clementine looked completely confused, as if what they were saying was impossible.

"Well, I guess in laymen terms, the Global Position System is what we use to navigate around the land, think of it like a real time map." Ren leaned forward slightly, his face coming into view.

"So you didn't have people mark out the land and make maps but use technology to give constant view of the land?" Clementine tapped a finger against her chin, as she closed her eyes, thinking how to respond.

"We do have hardcopies of maps of the land we just prefer to use this system because it can give us real time updates if there's a storm or some other disaster. Also it's not a waste if that's what you're thinking; we've got a constant presence overhead by the Navy that is able to provide scanning of marked areas for traveling. Those marked areas are covered by ground stations maintained by either the Military or the Mechanicum which use radar systems to bounce the signal around with receivers that we find in our vehicles or scrolls. Though there are places that don't get shown but that's because they're either off limits for Military or Government bases and facilities. Other areas aren't marked in detail due to it being deemed too risky or dangerous for civilians. Often times those areas are bordered by Military presences so anyone that comes too close would get intercepted by them anyways. At the same time we couldn't do this over the other continents because of the amount of resources to cover all that area." Clementine said as she started the jeep. Pulling away from the curb, Pyrrha couldn't help but find it fascinating at the things Arcadia could do, especially without Dust.

Dust had its myriad of uses; there wasn't a single Kingdom that didn't rely on Dust. Ever since the Great War ended, technology had boomed to a vast degree and had spread throughout the Four Kingdoms equipping both their governments, militaries, civilians, huntresses and huntsmen alike.

However it did have its own limitations or problems. The main issue for the Huntsman and Huntresses stemmed to their individuality, with each person sporting a vast array of deadly weapons, no two weapons were truly the same.

Thus the requirements for large scale Huntsmen operations required that an incredibly amount of supply be taken in demand in terms of Dust or ammunition.

At this point most the Councils just scrounge every single conceivable piece of Dust to cover their expenditure.

More experienced Huntsman and Huntresses tend to keep large amounts of Dust or ammunition on them in either case.

Which was not only wasteful in supplies in terms of Dust being unused because no one there needed them but time consuming to gather large quantities of Dust or ammunition in the first place.

Pyrrha could understand why in that regard Arcadia didn't develop a dependence of Dust but other forms of propellant and fuel that were just as universal.

It meant that they wouldn't necessarily need to worry about individual types of equipment as the Four Kingdoms. All they would have to do was worry about how much munitions or fuel in general was needed.

Take team JNPR and RWBY, while all their weapons were tailored for fighting. Their biggest strength was in terms of their raw ability to down almost anything in close combat.

However with the way things are in these uncertain times, their primary means of taking down opponents in close combat was starting to become more hazardous than it was worth it.

There lies the problem; none of them used the same type of ammunition. Pyrrha used rifle rounds though they could never be used in Crescent Rose due to it using heavy caliber ammunition which helped Ruby maneuver as well as fight.

Yang's Ember Celica was an asset to her hand to hand combat ability, with Ember Celica giving additional power to her punches.

However she burned through ammunition the most on team RWBY, each swing expending a shell.

While it may come with great benefit, Yang would soon find herself using Ember Celica as nothing more than a standard gauntlet.

Weiss was the most versatility when it came to Dust; being the heiress to the world's largest Dust Company she had access to the most refined Dust that could be found. However she also had the least amount to use.

Myrtenaster could only hold and use so much Dust at a time. In addition to that she used Dust in conjunction with her semblance to manipulate it to whatever situation that was at hand.

Blake was the least reliant on Dust, though it was similar in style to Yang's close combat fighting. Blake however was a naturally agile fighter that relied mainly on her semblance to dodge enemy strikes.

However it meant that she was forced to close the distance because Gambol Shroud doesn't have the stopping power as the rest of the team. Nor does she have the means to tackle an opponent who has a better ranged ability.

Switching over to team JNPR, Ren's StormFlower used small caliber ammunition like Blake, while he could put more rounds downrange than anyone else. He also would run out of ammunition faster than anyone on the team.

Nora was their powerhouse hitter through and through. Magnhild was a devastating weapon at any range. Nora could blast holes in a target or environment at range with her grenades, and the hammer form of Magnhild was efficient at sending any foe to a very early grave.

However the downside to all of that was the fact that Nora couldn't keep it up forever. She had the least amount of ammunition meaning that if she wasn't careful she could find herself empty within minutes. While she could still use Magnhild in its hammer form, even with her strength she'd get tired.

Though get a good jolt of energy always revitalizes her, due to her semblance of using electricity to enhance her strength. However none of them had the idea of to help her with that save for the idea of sticking her in a middle of a lightning storm.

Then there was her, when Miló and Akoúo were still in prime condition she had had a versatile amount of options for any engagement.

Miló in its rifle form while not as strong as Ruby's Crescent Rose still had a decent stopping power and could put more shots downrange than Crescent Rose.

Then there was Miló in its javelin form, which could be used to keep an opponent like Yang or Blake out of reach for their up-close and personal kind of fighting.

However if she had to guess her greatest weakness was also her strength in fighting duals. She started to think that her semblance, her tool that earned her the nickname of "Invincible Girl" was starting to seem like a weakness. Not in the sense that it wasn't useful but because she never used it for an extended period of time.

She was so used to fighting in regulated tournaments where she did her best to use her semblance only to alter a few things that she wasn't use to employing it fully. She remembered how much of a struggle it was to use her semblance on the tower against Cinder. Like any muscle if not thoroughly used, it would become a weakness.

So now working on her ability to fight with her semblance in full effect was on the list of things she needed to do.

As for Jaune, he didn't have a single issue about Dust usage or ammunition. However he literally had no way of attacking from range. He's stated in theory he would simply be the tank of the team. Which Pyrrha found alarming to think he was fine with taking all of their hits for them.

There was a jolt of the jeep shifting and Pyrrha realized she was in the jeep still with three other people. Pyrrha looked around, Clementine had gone back to driving, and Ren seemed to be enjoying a book as Nora snored in his lap again.

Looking out the windows Pyrrha could see that they were almost out of the city. The passing scenery changed from the high rise apartments to smaller single story homes. In the distance she could see the mountain range with snowcapped peaks. She sighed and closed her eyes; it was going to be a long journey.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Qrow sat next to Taiyang as Sanian took a seat across from them in Taiyang's house on Patch. She wore a simple white shirt with a black cashmere coat that reached to her knees. Along with shin high black boots that had covered black leggings.

Taiyang looked both tired and wary of the woman before them. Qrow couldn't blame him he wasn't sure why she was there either, then again he doubt most people knew what the Arcs were up too or why.

"So, Ms. Arc, what is it that you need from us?" Taiyang asked as he poured himself a cup of warm tea from a silver put that rested in the middle of the table.

"Oh there isn't anything I truly need with you; it's your daughter I'm here to see." Taiyang quirked an eyebrow, as Qrow frowned at that.

"Yang's fine, you don't need to trouble yourself with that." Taiyang chuckled softly but it died as he looked at her again.

"I'm sure she is but I don't mean the girl you had with Raven Branwen." The name brought a slight flinch to Taiyang and Qrow simply rolled his eyes.

"If it's possible I would like to talk with Ruby, there's something I wish to discuss with her, and depending on how that goes I'll discuss it with you as well in the final decision process."

"Woah, hold on, what is it that you're gonna be talking with her, I'm her father and I would rather prefer if I knew what it was before hand." Sanian smiled sadly and pulled out a letter from her coat, sliding it across the table.

Qrow picked it up, it had a simple red wax seal on it, flipping it around he narrowed his eyes at the sight of the golden Arc emblem on the front. He handed it to Taiyang, who proceed to open it, in the corner of his eye he could see that it was addressed to Ruby.

"There's two reasons why I'm here, first is in an official capacity to gain another eyewitness account to the death of High Lord Alexander. The second is on behalf of Arabella Arc, the newly widowed Steward of Arcadia, who wished to extend hospitality to young Miss Rose to attend her husband's funeral." Qrow crossed his arms; it was a valid reason but not one that he believed that really brought her there.

The Arcs have been make noticeable waves of late; somehow they were able to convince Vale to let them construct an Embassy south of Beacon. Despite the swelling outrage that the people of Vale were having against them they were able to construct it without issue.

Then almost as if by magic, politicians, businessmen, and Diplomats flocked to the only Arcadian Embassy in the Four Kingdoms. From what Qrow heard the Arcadian staff was getting swamped by offers for treaties, economic deals, and business proposals, especially from the SDC.

Qrow didn't envy them but he understood why they were doing it, or at least he thought he did. It was a simple move to force media coverage on Vale. Despite the efforts of Arcadia and people like Glynda Vale still had the scars of battle it suffered weeks ago.

It was also a major power play on the Arc's part. To showcase the devastation done to a Kingdom like Vale despite having the protection of Ironwood's Atlas fleet and robotics. It puts into question just how effective the once, so called largest, military really was in this darker world of theirs.

Not to mention word would spread around about the treachery done by the Atlassian robots. Not only did they turn their weapons on the backs of Huntsmen and Huntresses killing more than a few that were in dire situations.

They also turned their weapons on defenseless civilians who didn't even have aura to provide some protection.

The population even before the battles were even done, had already started turning on the Atlassian soldiers and Academy students. Now Atlas had Mistral, Vacuo, and Vale hounding them about the reliability and safety of their technology as well as dealing with the public relations nightmare of the general populace.

"You can see her." Taiyang said as he folded up the letter, tossing it back onto the table. Sanian smiled grimly and stood up; Taiyang didn't make a move to follow her.

"Aren't you gonna keep an eye on them?" Qrow asked as she walked up the stairs, Taiyang looked up at Qrow, exhaustion evident on his face.

"I would but something tells me it's best to just let them have time alone, from what I gather she was the one that accompanied Ruby up to Beacon Tower."

"She was, when I got there she was attending to some other people that were on the tower as well as the body of Alexander Arc." Taiyang pinched the bridge of his nose, a sigh escaping from his lips once more.

"She's far too young to see that sort of stuff."

"She's training to be a Huntress; she was bound to see that sort of stuff sooner than later."

"I know Qrow, but she's still young and innocent, she had such wonderfully naïve dreams about being a Huntress like Summer but now I fear with recent events that it'll break her, not to the extent that she shuts down like Yang with her injury but it's far too sudden to see something like that." Qrow placed a hand on Taiyang's shoulder.

"Tai, I understand what you're dealing with, trust me, but you've got to realize that there was never going to be an easy way to break that to her. The world is a cruel place, Grimm pressing us from the outside while we're trapped as a society with people who do terrible things, wolves in sheep's clothing essentially. Though now we've got daemons roaming the Outlands waiting to come and kill us all. Your little girl was never going to come back the same." Taiyang ran a hand through his messy golden hair, closing his eyes and leaning his head back.

"I know Qrow, I know." Qrow took that as the hint to leave his friend alone with his thoughts. He stepped into the living room and looked towards the stairs. Ruby and Sanian were talking up there; something in his gut told him that it was important.

He started up the stairs softly, his long legs making up the effort to dampen the sound of his steps. As he reached the top of the stairs, he could see that no one was in the hallways. Yang's door was ajar but he knew that she wasn't going anyway for a while.

With careful steps he glided to the door of the room that Ruby was laid up in. Pressing his ear against the door, he closed his eyes and focused.

He could hear Ruby saying something, remorse evident in her young voice. Despite what he said to Tai, he felt his own insides twist to hear her voice lose that young, innocent, jovial tone that it once had.

Sanian seemed to be consoling her about something but Qrow couldn't tell exactly what it was that she was saying. There was a rustle of movement and the sound of footsteps so Qrow immediately moved back down the hallway.

As the door opened Qrow made it seemed like he had just started to walk up the last of the steps to the second floor. Sanian stood with her arms crossed outside Ruby's closed door, exasperation evident on her face.

"Is there something I can help you with Mr. Branwen?" Qrow raised his eyebrows in surprise; he quickly changed it to one of puzzlement.

"I don't know what you mean, Ms. Arc, I was coming up here to check on my nieces." Sanian continued to glower, and stepped closer. As she did, Qrow could feel the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.

"I don't like being spied on Mr. Branwen and I don't like being lied to." Qrow sighed internally, the ruse was up, and he looked her in the eyes a scowl sprouting his face as well.

"Nor do I, what is it that you want Ruby, I doubt it's just to invite her to Alexander's funeral." Sanian snorted in an unladylike fashion.

"You think I care about what you think Mr. Branwen? Because spoiler alert, I don't. Nor do I need to address your chary of me and my intention of being here." Qrow could feel his hand twitch slightly. Sanian brushed passed him and started to walk down the steps; he followed shortly as she reached the front door. However as she gripped the handle she turned around.

"Before I leave let me just say that with the way things are, don't make us be your enemy, we've fought the Four Kingdoms before during the Great War and supported the Faunus Rights Revolution against them as well. But we were holding back, but things have changed, open war will get everyone killed."

"Why are you telling me this?" Qrow asked as he crossed his arms.

"It's because you've got Goodwitch's ear, she'll be busy trying to get Beacon back running. In the meantime, Kingdom politics and the general populace are going to make things difficult. Atlas already is trying to form a Coalition with them as the head, saying that they learned from the Battle of Vale but I doubt it and something tells me you do too. So try to keep an ear on the ground, bird boy." Sanian said with a small smile on her lips as she opened the door and left.

"That Bitch." Qrow sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. So apparently the Arc woman was a lot more perceptive than he reckoned. On top of that, she must have a clue about how he travels around so quickly.

"What? Did she turn you down or something?" Taiyang asked as he stepped out from the kitchen, Qrow snorted.

"Come on Tai, she isn't my type, if anything I should be worried about getting another woman pregnant." Tai just stared blankly at him, Qrow shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay fine, maybe if I ever see her in a small skirt, I might take her a little more serious but besides she's married." This time Taiyang shrugged, a smile splitting his face for the first time that day.

"Hasn't stopped you before."

"It was one time!" Qrow said as the two of them sat opposite from each other in the living room in lounge chairs.

"Maybe the one time during that week, but I remember much more failed attempts."

"You always bring up the ones that I failed at, but never the ones that say yes." Taiyang chuckled.

"I can only talk about what I've seen."

"Asshole."

"Bird brain."

"Blond demon."

"Worm eater." The two men sat across from each other smiles wide on their faces before breaking down in laughter.

"Anyways Qrow, you mentioned something a while back about seeing a girl, whatever became of that?" Qrow's smiled faded at the question.

"That's a bit random."

"Is it? I believe that topic of we were discussing a few minutes ago was about your many failures of hooking up with women." Qrow rolled his eyes.

"Okay fine, what do you wanna know?" Taiyang smiled as he stretched his arms above his head before leaning back in the lounger

"Well you give me the bloody details man, how did you meet? What's she like? Do you like her?"

"Well we met when I was out doing another mission for Ozpin; I wound up tracking a group of White Fang lackeys to a town called Gellar." Taiyang's eyes narrowed at that, Gellar had been talked to death on the news cycles for weeks but it was still an intense incident for some people.

"I watched on a rooftop as the White Fang do a ritual using the bodies of the dead; summon weird grotesque creatures, or daemons, that slaughtered everyone there. Next thing I knew there she was, standing next to me with a massive rifle in her hands. The daemons knew we were up there so they charged us and we fought them off somehow. We ended up talking and sticking together after I took the Arcs to meet Ozpin. Funnily enough, Gellar was also where I met Sanian, the woman who was just here, as well." Taiyang looked surprised at that.

"Wait you already knew each other? Why did it feel like you were ready to drop kick her at a moment's notice?" Qrow ran a hand through his hair again.

"Ah well I knew of her but that's not it, it has to go back to the Battle at Beacon. When I was making my way over there, I saw Ruby be carried up by a woman with glowing white wings Tai, now before you stop me, it wasn't like any other semblance that I can think of, the very air seemed to charge with a sort of power that I don't think I've ever felt before. And I know it was her, I don't believe that it was a normal semblance or a semblance at all, and not knowing is starting to prove to be a detriment for safety." Taiyang nodded slowly then looked up behind Qrow, a smile on his face, and Qrow turned around.

"Hey." Ruby said as she stood on the stairs in her pajamas, looking bashful at interrupting her father and uncle.

"Hey kiddo, you feeling alright?" Taiyang asked as he got up, stepping towards the staircase, Ruby nodded.

"Yea I'm fine; I was just coming down to talk with you." Taiyang pursed his lips slightly.

"Is it what Sanian said?" Ruby nodded, Taiyang took Ruby's hand in his own. Her pale handed dwarfed by Taiyang's as he closed it, looking into Ruby's silver eyes.

"It's okay to be upset; you don't have to do anything you don't want to do." Ruby smiled slightly and shook her head.

"I know dad but I feel like this is the right thing to do and go there, Mr. Arc was always kind to me and I'm…friends with his son." The way Ruby paused made Taiyang's fatherly instincts scream that there was so much more to that statement than she let on.

"I need to go dad." Taiyang sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

"I understand do you want me to come with you?" Ruby furrowed her eyebrows in thought.

"I wouldn't mind but what about Yang?" Taiyang nodded upon realizing what she meant. Yang was still not in the mental condition to be traveling, she had barely left her room since her arrived back home.

Taiyang knew that it was going to take a while for her to get back to normal. Even than she won't be the same girl, though he'll forever love her no matter what.

"Alright then, I'll stay here with Yang, but remember Ruby that we'll always be here for when you need us." Ruby smiled and walked back up the steps, no doubt going to start packing.

Taiyang turned to Qrow who was still sitting in his chair; he was screwing the cap of his flask back on. Taiyang ignored it; there was no point in trying to stop Qrow from drinking. He always found a way to either sneak a bottle in or get his flask back if you took it away from him.

An unwelcomed flash of a woman who looked remarkably like Ruby appeared. She was calling out to Qrow as she chased him around their home in order to take the flask away popped in Taiyang minds. Then there was another flash of a raven haired beauty who was lecturing her brother about how annoying his drinking was.

"Tai?" Qrow called out, and Taiyang shook his head.

"Sorry I was just thinking about something." Qrow just grunted at that, Taiyang always tried to hide it when he thought about Summer or Raven. Though Qrow could tell the way his eyes always softened when he was remembering one of them.

Qrow didn't truly know why his sister left Taiyang; she never gave him a clear answer or one that felt genuine. She had disliked people as a whole but he thought that their time in Beacon had allowed her to open up more, but it seemed that he was wrong to assume that.

She left Taiyang and her daughter, opting instead to play tribal leader in the Outlands of the Four Kingdoms. He's aware of what some of the actions she's done in the name of family as she calls it. Qrow snorted softly at that thought.

"So what do you think is gonna happen now?" Taiyang asked as he took a seat again across from Qrow who simply looked puzzled.

"I mean with Ozpin gone and the Kingdoms trying to get a handle of things, what do you think is gonna happen?"

"I'm not sure Tai; I don't think anyone truly knows for sure what is gonna happen. Ideally the Kingdoms will unify to tackle this threat, hopefully with the Arcs, or by themselves. If not, we're gonna be scrambling to find a way to not only deal with the White Fang and whoever is backing them but Daemons as well." Taiyang stood up and quickly walked into the kitchen and Qrow looked puzzled at the sudden departure.

That is until Taiyang came out with a clear decanter of liquor in one hand, while holding a small tray of ice with two glass cups in hand. Qrow smiled as he set them out on the table between them. Taiyang dropped a few ice cubes before removing the cap and looked at Qrow.

Qrow simply held up three fingers and Taiyang laughed softly as he poured the liquor into the cup before pouring some into his own. He passed Qrow his cup and sat across from him, they tilted their heads at each other and both took a swig of their cups.

"Ya know you never did finish telling me about how you met that Sehra girl." Taiyang said after relishing the after burn of the liquor. Qrow smiled and soon the two friends spent hours into the evening recounting tales and events of their lives.

* * *

 **A Few Days Later…**

Pyrrha woke with a jolt; groggily she looked around, before realizing that she was still inside the jeep.

The sound of rain pattered against the windows of the jeep giving a constant background noise that was neither too loud nor soft. However it was impossible to forget about.

It had been a few days since they had left Clove, Pyrrha still couldn't help but feel awed by the lack of danger that would be otherwise present in the Four Kingdoms.

Traveling in the Outlands between Kingdoms was a harrowing task, not only because the distance was so great but for the uncertainty of it. Information could only travel as fast as people could move, when towns and villages are constantly being formed and disappearing, nothing was for certain.

One could travel to a well-known town and not know it's been destroyed for weeks or even months prior to the journey. Other times a person can stumble upon a flourishing town that no one knew existed until that very moment.

Now whether or not it will be there when the next group of people comes around, well that was for fate to decide.

The first stop that they had made was a small fishing village of Amalasanda eighty miles southwest of Clove. Despite housing roughly a hundred and thirty people the village was well constructed, houses made from brick and wood with paved roads and a simple but effective wall roughly six meters high.

Nora and Ren enjoyed interacting with the people. Nora played with the kids while Ren enjoyed the respite of his friend's attention as it was focused elsewhere by sitting with the Village elders.

Pyrrha hadn't done much; her limited experience of interacting with people on such personal basis had come forth. Thankfully Clementine had offered her to help purchase food, fuel and other supplies from the local store.

After leaving Amalasanda they had seen nothing but forests, occasionally they would pass by another truck or vehicle, though all of them were civilian according to Clementine when they inquired. What sort of business they had, whether it was personal or business related, no one could say.

On the morning of the second day, they did run into their first patrol of Arcadian soldiers. Four Venators drove past them at a leisurely pace. Pyrrha felt slightly proud that she was able to not only recognize the familiar armored vehicle but remember its name as well.

It wasn't until they stopped for the night that the raining started; Pyrrha looked out the window as the rain pattered against it steadily. It was completely dark out; in a manner it was both unnerving yet peaceful at the same time.

She was used to always seeing some sort of sign of civilization. Yet now she was technically in the middle of the forest with the nearest town or village being hours away. In any other occasion she would be nervous at the prospect of a Grimm attack.

However being in the Arcadian homeland and seeing what they had achieved had installed a sense of ease. One that the more she thought about she hadn't felt in a very long time.

Before Beacon she had always dreaded about the next day in which she would have to deal with fans or media personnel invading her personal life. To add onto that she would have to also deal with the lack of meaningful interaction with people her own age due to that fame.

In the nights and days before Beacon she agonized at the prospect that it'll be just like Sanctum. That people would only talk to her to get famous in some regard or use her for some other end. Or not talk to at all, thinking that she's too good for them.

At first when Weiss hounded her it seemed like it would become that very nightmare. However it ended when she met Jaune, only to be replaced by the intense fear of losing him as he sought after Weiss or any other girl. Night after night she'd lie in her bed looking at his direction as they all slept and imagine how amazing it would be to have him.

Then she had to fret about Ruby trying to steal him from her. She didn't blame the younger girl, Jaune was amazing in her mind, and while some may find it weird. Pyrrha felt that she was the only one meant for him. The only one that could treat him right.

Pyrrha took a deep breath, and closed her eyes again, listening to the patter of rain as she rested her head against the cool glass of the window.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Pyrrha first became aware of the slight shifting of the jeep as it moved over the paved terrain. Along with the steady rumble of the jeep's engine, and Nora snoring.

Pyrrha opened her eyes slowly, it was still dark out and there was still a slight drizzle as she see water running down the passenger side window.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes softly, a yawn escaping from her lips that she covered with a few fingers.

"Good Morning Pyrrha." Clementine said with a low voice to avoid disturbing Nora and Ren.

"Morning Clementine, what time did you wake up?" Pyrrha asked she turned on the display in the dashboard; it was barely six in the morning.

"Oh I woke up around five, the rain had slowed down that I added the rest of our fuel to the jeep, it should be enough to get us to the next town." Pyrrha turned the dashboard screen to the navigation section and peered closely at it, blinking a few times to get the rest of her sleep out of her system.

"Your right we're only about forty miles away from a town called Helvisk." Pyrrha looked up to see Clementine nodding as she watched the road.

Seeing that she was focused, Pyrrha just sat in silence, not wanting to disturb her as she drove. Looking out the passenger window, Pyrrha couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of visiting another town. She vowed silently to herself that she would make an effort in trying to talk with the locals, as if sensing her thoughts Clementine spoke.

"Hey Pyrrha."

"Yes?"

"There's something we need to discussion before we get to Helvisk." Pyrrha blinked in surprise at that.

"Sure Clementine, I'm all ears."

"Ah well, the thing is, I know about what happened at Beacon." That brought a frown to Pyrrha's face.

"Oh…"

"Yea, now I'm just going to say that with Arcadian coming back to the spot light of the Four Kingdoms, we've been communicating with them and hearing things that happened, not to mention soldiers who are fighting tend to talk and that talk gets back to the public. The death of Alexander wouldn't nor could be kept as a secret; however certain articles both national and international, I guess you can say, have been circulating. People have taken particular interest about a certain Mistral Champion who saved the day in the Battle of Beacon as Alexander Arc died failing to uphold his duty. You know the normal trashy media attention that gets views because they say something crazy. Well in a sense it worked, people might get rowdy if they figure out you're a foreigner."

"So do you want me to hide myself?" Pyrrha bit the words out; even she was surprised at the venom that laced her words. Clementine spun her head to look at her, pain evident in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said looking away once more in shame at how she spoke.

"Pyrrha it's fine, I understand that no one wants to be forced to keep their head down nor will I make you do that but I just want to warn you that people get irrational sometimes, even in Arcadia, we're far from a perfect society."

"I understand Clementine; I'm sorry for snapping at you." Pyrrha felt more regret flood her at snapping at the woman, she was just trying to be nice and warn her. Pyrrha looked at her again.

"Do you really think that there might be a problem for me there?" Clementine didn't look at Pyrrha, instead opting to focus on driving but Pyrrha can see her eyebrows knit together in frustration.

"Not necessarily, but like I said people can be irrational sometimes and while I know you can handle yourself when push comes to shove I don't want to spoil this trip for you and your friends by some angry jerk face taking it out on you." Pyrrha nodded slowly at that, it was a reasonable thing to tell her about.

She looked away again as silence filled the air. This wasn't something that Pyrrha thought she would actually have to deal with. At one point she would have to worry about people fawning over her for her fame but now she may have to contend with people hating her.

She liked that thought for some reason.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

As the jeep crested another hill top, Pyrrha could see the white walls of civilization in the distance. Further back, multiple buildings branched up into the sky and she could even see airships drifting through the clear blue skies.

"Are we there?" Nora asked, peering around from behind Pyrrha's seat, Clementine chuckled.

"Yes, we're here Nora, welcome to Helvisk, population fourteen thousand, in addition to that Fort Helvisk is to the north east, it's where that patrol that we saw earlier was from." Clementine said as the jeep started making its way down the hill. Ren finally drifted awake, and gave an uncharacteristic yawn.

"Renny you're finally awake!" Nora cheered, wrapping an arm around Ren and pulling him close to her.

"Yes Nora, I'm awake, no need to be so excited about it."

"Awww Ren but why not, we've been all awake for like, ever, while you simply slept the morning away, Mr. Sleepy head." Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh softly, shaking her head as she listened to her friends talk with each other.

They've known each other for apparently a long time and both were orphaned. Though neither she nor Jaune knew the exact details of how that happened.

Though they were okay with not knowing for now, Jaune had told her that something like that took time to come up even with good friends.

Closing in on the North Gate of Helvisk, Pyrrha could see that the walls were at least ten meters tall, on either side of the entrance were what seemed to be guard towers. Every few hundred feet in either direction was another tower on the wall.

However Pyrrha's attention was directed to the road in front of the gate, a small concrete building was set off to the right shoulder of the road. In front of it was a simple lift barrier that was currently set across the road. The most fascinating sight however was the dozen individuals that were manning the gate.

They wore white hard shell upper body armor over a black uniform that had black webbing strapped over the white armor. The webbing had three pouches on the left and right side of their stomach, along with an additional pouch running up the straps.

The armor also covered the shoulders and had upper arm protection. Wrapped around their forearms was a hard shell forearm guard that covered from the top of the wrist to elbow. On their legs were white hard shell greaves that covered from the knee down to the top of their boots.

Unlike most Arcadian soldiers Pyrrha had seen. These people didn't wear a uniform set of head protection.

Instead of the full face helmet that the Army used which offered full protection to the head but had a built in vox unit for communicating within a certain range of other units. It also doubled as a gas mask or closed environment to protect against airborne pathogens.

However these individuals had a myriad of head gear. Some wore white ballistic helmets with black tinted goggles and a half face respirator. Others just wore full gas masks with black tinted visors.

Hanging from the left of their waist seemed to be strange mace objects that reminded Pyrrha of Cardin's oversized weapon except a lot more humble and practical to use. Strapped to their right thigh was a holster that held a handgun.

Pyrrha noted that four of them seemed to carry be carrying what looked to be slim long barreled weapons. Though they didn't look like the Agrippina rifles that she had seen Arcadian soldiers use.

"Who are they?" Nora asked, leaning forward between Clementine and Pyrrha.

"Those are Judges."

"I thought they would be bigger." Nora said as the jeep got closer to the barrier.

"Is it me, or do they look a bit tense?" Ren asked, Pyrrha took a closer look at them but from what she could tell nothing seemed to indicate that. She turned to Ren and shrugged one shoulder.

"What makes you think that?" Clementine asked curiosity etched on her face.

"Just a feeling." Clementine looked away and watched the Judges. Ren was right in a sense, something seemed off about them. She noticed that all of them seemed to have their hands close to a weapon, ready to draw and fight with.

The jeep closed in on the barrier and one Judge stepped forward with his left hand raised to indicate for them to slow down. As the jeep eased to a halt, Clementine lowered her window.

"Hello Judge, what can I help you with?" Clementine cheerfully asked she also thought that there was nothing wrong with being kind to strangers, especially to people who risk life and limb every day.

"If you wouldn't mind Ma'am, license and registration." The helmed figure said in response, not in a rude fashion but friendliness obviously wasn't on his mind. Clementine pulled out her wallet and opened the glove box where she kept the jeep's registration; she handed over her Arcadian identification and vehicle registration.

"Let me run this through the system quickly ma'am, sit tight." He said before walking away towards the building on the side of the road.

"Is this normal?" Nora asked.

"Technically yes, he's just going by the books." Pyrrha continued to look at the other Judges, six of them seemed to be slowly taking up position around the jeep. Immediately she realized that they were preparing themselves in case they needed to use force.

"I get the feeling that if something wasn't going on that they would probably be a little friendlier." Pyrrha said, Clementine hummed slightly at that but didn't say anything as the Judge from before returned. She noticed that he seemed to be a little more at ease than before.

"Sorry about that Captain, things have just been a little tense lately around here." Clementine tilted her head in confusion.

"Tense?" The helmed head bobbed up and down slowly.

"Yea, between you and me, there's been a string of killings lately, can't tell you much cause that's apparently a need to know basis and I'm far below that pay grade circle. Anyways, you're clear to go through, I already know about your passengers, the system has a file link to the three of them, so enjoy your stay and be safe." The Judge said as he stepped away, the barrier rose up and Clementine applied pressure to the accelerator and the jeep moved forward. The armored forms of the Judges continued their vigilance behind them.

As they entered the town, Pyrrha could see that despite the warning from the Judge that there was still life that seemed to go on naturally.

Past the gate was a wide square with a large three tier fountain, people milled around the square talking or hanging out with each other. Vendors on the far side shouted out encouragements for people to come and sample their food or merchandise.

Clementine pulled the jeep to the left to send down a street, people milled on the sidewalks minding their own business. Occasionally Pyrrha could see the stark white forms of the Judges either talking with someone or standing on street corners looking one way or another.

It wasn't even ten minutes until Clementine pulled in a parking lot of a three story complex. Pyrrha could see that the building was made from brick and marble with numerous windows on the side. The moment Clementine found a spot and parked, Nora jumped out of the jeep.

"Freedom!" She cried as she stretched her arms high above her head, Pyrrha simply chuckled to herself as she stepped out of the jeep herself. Her legs felt slightly numb from the lack of moving, she started to stretch as well, the pops and cracks of her body bringing a welcome relief of the tension of sitting in the jeep.

"Alright now, let's put the stuff into the jeep, then we can take what we need and check into this hotel." Clementine called out as she started shifting fuel canisters into the back of the jeep as she set aside their belongings.

"This is a hotel?" Nora asked puzzlement evident on her face.

"Seems a little small." Pyrrha commented as well and Clementine shook her head.

"Sure but this hotel isn't meant for quantity of people but quality so not many can afford it and since I was technically given a blank check by the Legate as your guide, I figured why not treat ourselves." The members of team JNPR simply smiled as they finished gathering their stuff and headed inside.

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

"This place is amazing." Pyrrha said as she stepped out of the bathroom, having her first actual shower in days.

"I know right." Nora said from a nearby couch munching on a piece of garlic bread that she had found in the small kitchen that was provided to them. Clementine simply smiled as she sat at a chair looking at her data slate.

The room was a large forty by forty foot room with three couches surrounding a coffee table in the center that faced towards a wall mounted television. To Pyrrha's right was another desk that was set against the wall and the main door to their room. A clear vase sat in the center with fresh roses and a template letter saying welcome from the hotel staff.

To her left were three doors, one led to a rather spacious bathroom that she had just finished using. The other two doors leading to bedroom with queen sized beds. They were mirrored on the other side of the room as well.

Ren had already gone into one of the rooms to find a separate bathroom to use, while the girls took the main one.

"So what's the plan?" Pyrrha shrugged as she sorted through her belongings for clothes to wear.

"Well we'll be here for a few days, so you three just relax and have fun." Clementine said as she stood up and walked over to the kitchen area and poured herself a glass of water.

"So Pyrrha, tomorrow we should go explore. Maybe we can go shopping for ingredients to have Ren make some pancakes." Pyrrha could help but smile at her friend's obsession for Ren's cooking.

"Maybe, I also wouldn't mind seeing what the people are like." Nora nodded at that, one of the bedroom doors opened and Ren stepped out, hair still a little damp from showering.

"What are you girls talking about?" Nora peeked up from the couch she had been laying on.

"Oh we're talking about what we're gonna do tomorrow as a team." Ren sat next to Nora with an amused smile on his face and the three members of team JNPR started to talk amongst themselves.

Clementine seeing that they were embroiled in their conversation, took that as the cue to leave them be for the night

She silently slipped into one of the bedrooms that she had placed her stuff in. Sitting at the small desk provided in the room she took out her data slate again and turned the screen on.

The latest incident revealed an image of three women; their bodies had been skinned and strung up by their feet in a warehouse. She had been able to pull some strings and get a copy of the Arbites report that was filed by the responding Judges.

Ever since the renewed surge of Daemons on Remnant, Arcadia has been bent on fortifying its defenses against the possibility of a Daemonic invasion of the Kingdoms.

However with the events of the Battle of Beacon and Vale it was becoming clear that the Four Kingdoms were not so susceptible to coopting themselves to Arcadia direction on this matter. Which was understandable, for the implication of giving up their ability to choice their own path wasn't something that sat kindly with them.

It was one of the many flaws and strengths of Humanity and by extension the Faunus as well. None of them liked being told what to do nor are they predictable in how they'll react when confronted about it.

She skimmed through most of the file; she wasn't an expert in Law or Arbites procedure. However she knew more than the average soldier or Judge about what goes bump in the night. She was the one to compile the report of the battle with warriors of a cursed Legion.

Looking at the file of the murder it was clear about why the higher ranked Judges were trying to keep it quiet. In addition to the dead bodies was a bloody note talking about absolving them of their sins of denying the truth.

Religion wasn't that big of a deal in Arcadia. She wasn't sure what it was like in the Four Kingdoms, though if she had to speculate that it wasn't a big thing there as well. It's hard for people to hold faith in things when innocent people and loved ones died every day to the Grimm.

For instance, birth rates had increased in the last five decades but so had mortality rates. Though it still hasn't reached a point when there were just not enough people. On the flip side of that, the possibility of running out of resources in the areas that they have was a high chance.

She paused as she heard another explosion of laughter from the Nora, she found it amazing at the amount of energy the young girl had. She liked the Beacon students, they all seemed like really good kids, and she just hoped that they won't have to experience too many hardships.

However she knew that in the end, none of them were safe.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

Pyrrha stepped out onto the sidewalk; Nora and Ren were ahead of her already. The bubbly orange hair hammer wielder chatting animatedly about having a taste of Ren's pancakes again. Though she's switch to lamenting to the stoic young man about not having any of the syrup from the Forever Fall forest.

Watching her two friends walk side by side so naturally and the mention of the Forever Fall forest brought back memories of it as well. She remembered her first official date with Jaune with brought a wave of warmth to her.

She missed him, his smile, eyes, the way he's always treating her both as an equal and as someone he deeply cares about. The way he always scratched the back of his head whenever he was embarrassed about something or when he's done something nice but wants to play it off as nothing.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a man exit a café and she stopped.

He was tall and thin but she could tell that he had strength in him by the way his shirt clung to his torso. His messy blond hair seemed to shine in the daylight, along with his pale white skin seeming to glow.

He wore a simple black shirt that much to her surprise had the bunny of Pumpkin Pete on it. In addition he wore a pair of faded blue jeans with black high tops.

The man turned to face her as if sensing that she was staring and Pyrrha could feel her heart stop. His blue eyes reminded her of looking out at the ocean, so infinity and beautiful.

"Jaune…" She said simply, Nora and Ren turned back to see what was holding up their friend.

"Pyr?" Nora said as she closed in but Pyrrha ran out, crossing the street in seconds and tackled the blond man.

"Pyrrha!" Nora cried out and gave chase, Ren close behind her.

"Pyrrha what are you doing?!" Nora asked as she closed in and Pyrrha got up from the man who had fallen to the ground upon receiving the tackle.

"Look its Jaune!" She squealed happily as she pulled him up by his arms and brought him in her own bone crushing hug. Nora took a look at the man and gave an ear to ear smile of her own, before joining in.

"Uh…Guys…" Ren said a few feet away.

"What?! Ren get in here!" Nora shouted, though her voice was slightly muffled by being buried in the duo.

"Guys, that's not Jaune." This brought an immediate halt, Pyrrha looking at Ren.

"What do you mean? Of course it is! Look at him!" Ren held his hands up to placate her.

"I understand Pyrrha but Jaune grew a lot in Beacon, so unless he shrunk five inches, this isn't him." Pyrrha looked at the man before her and that's when she noticed that Ren was right. Now that she looked his eyes were flecked with grey giving it a dull blue look while Jaune's was a brilliant blue like a picture perfect ocean.

His nose was slightly crooked as well like that of a boxer whose nose didn't get set right after breaking. She also did see that while he was fit; he didn't have even half of the size that Jaune had acquired since she had unlocked his aura nor his height.

Most telling of all, when she looked into his eyes there was something off about him. For some reason it gave the impression of a skittish wild animal that somehow got trapped by a hunter.

"It's alright; I guess I must look like someone ya'll know, from afar." The man said a little chuckle in his voice but Ren took notice of the way his eyes seemed to harden.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha said, bowing at the waist. Nora also looking away while muttering sorry as well, Ren bowed his head in apology.

"Whoa, seriously, it's fine." The man said shock evident on his face.

"No it's not; I'm sorry for knocking you down and mistaking you for someone who you're not." Pyrrha said, anguish evident in her voice. How could she be so stupid? Of course it wasn't him. Yet here she was, at the slightest hint of seeing him she did something reckless.

"Sorry for causing you so much trouble." Ren said as Nora placed a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, the man shook his head once more.

"It's fine, really. If it'll make you feel any better why not get a drink with me, you can pay for it and I'll enjoy it and consider it a sufficient apology, otherwise there's nothing to apologize for." The three of them looked up at him and could see a wide smile on his face.

There was nothing malicious about it, just an open friendly face. Pyrrha looked towards Ren and Nora. Ren just shrugged and Nora flashed a thumb up.

"Uh, sure, but we're new to town, so we wouldn't know where to go." The man said wave a hand in front of his face in dismissal.

"Ah its fine, we're already standing outside my favorite café." They looked behind him and could see a large pane of glass. Inside they could see numerous dark wood tables with people sitting at them, drinking while reading, or chatting with each other.

"Uh, well why not." Pyrrha said and the three of them entered the café, a cheerful matron with grey streaked blonde hair came out from behind the main counter. Pyrrha could see a monkey's tail holding a small hand towel behind her.

"Ah Morgan, it feels like it's been forever since I've seen you." The man said as she swatted him with her tail, the towel smacking his face.

"Shut up, anyways who are these youngsters with you?" She said eyeing the three of them.

"Oh them? Ah well it's simple really, the pretty red head here tackled me and so did her orange hair friend, but it was mostly cause they thought I was someone else but magenta streak here saved me and red head started apologizing and I was like stop but she kept looking sorry and I was like buy me coffee and we'll be even so now I'm back in here with more customers for you Morgan, thought you'd be happy." The woman swatted him again before looking at Pyrrha; she could see the kindness in her eyes.

"Ah its fine dearie, you don't need to apologize to this young rascal anyways." Pyrrha smiled and shook her head.

"I'm sorry ma'am but I wouldn't feel right if I didn't at least make up for tackling him to the ground." Morgan smiled.

"Aw, aren't you a sweetie, what's your name dearie" Pyrrha looked away shyly, remembering what Clementine had told her in the car but turned to look her in the eyes.

"Pyrrha Nikos Ma'am." She said smiling slightly.

"Nora Valkyrie!" The orange hair girl said with an enthusiastic smile, Ren spoke next bowing his head slightly.

"Lie Ren but please, call me Ren." Morgan smiled and patted Pyrrha on the arm.

"Well you three can call me Morgan, owner of this fine establishment, anyways let me find ya'll a table to sit." Morgan directed them to a corner table on the far side of the room. As the four of them sat down, she placed a menu in front of them.

"Ya know I just realized that I haven't introduced myself, name's Edris Allyn." He said as he stuck his hand out towards Pyrrha, who shook it. In turn he extended his hand to all of them, though he looked like he regretted shaking Nora's when she practically crushed it.

"So, Pyrrha you said earlier that you weren't from around here, so what town are ya from?" Edris asked curiosity evident on his face.

"Oh, well I'm not really from…well… Arcadia." Pyrrha said glancing at Ren and Nora who looked just as hesitant in answering that question.

"Whoa, so you're from the outside? Like Vale or Atlas?" Edris said excitement flooding his voice and Pyrrha could feel a small wave of relief to see that he looked excited.

"Well I'm from Mistral actually." Pyrrha said before looking to Ren and Nora.

"And we're from the Outlands on Anima." Ren said and Pyrrha felt surprised that he actually said something like that. She knew that they weren't from the main cities of the Four Kingdoms but to know that they're technically from Anima as well was interesting.

"Whoa, that's so cool." Edris said as Morgan came by placing four cups in front of them. Ren had a green tea, Nora got stuck with a glass of water, Edris had apparently gotten a cup of coffee, and Pyrrha a cup of hot chocolate.

"I wish I could visit the Four Kingdoms, they seem like such interesting places, I mean Arcadia is cool and there's so many towns and villages that have their own different local history or culture that it would take weeks if not months to visit and learn a little bit about them all but all of them have an underlying character of Arcadia which is awesome but I wouldn't mind going to a whole new place that I know nothing about besides what I've read in history books." Edris said after sipping from his coffee cup.

"I'd encourage that, there's nothing like learning more about other cultures, you get a fresh perspective on life and how you can think." Ren said in response.

"What brings you guys here?" That brought silence down on them again and Edris looked confused at the obvious reluctance.

"Well we're here to visit a friend." He tilted his head in confusion.

"Is it the guy that you thought I was?" Pyrrha nodded.

"Well where is he?" Pyrrha looked down at her hot chocolate, Nora spoke up.

"He's in the Capital at the moment." Edris looked even more puzzled.

"The Capital? Why are you here then? The Capital is a long distance away."

"We know but we're traveling by road so we decided to take break here for a little while before continuing on.'

"Ah, so what's to friend to ya'll?" Pyrrha blinked at that question.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, you're coming all the way from the Four Kingdoms to visit him, why? The only ones that traveled back and forth from here to the Four Kingdoms were the Military. Is he a soldier?"

"No but he's a fighter that's for sure." Pyrrha said reluctant to give away too much information but Nora got enthusiastic as normal.

"He's also our Fearless Leader who saved Pyrrha on Beacon Tower." Ren slapped his forehead, and Pyrrha winced at her saying that aloud.

"Beacon Tower? Oh….Oh! Whoa you're Hunters?" Edris exclaimed and quickly leaned forward.

"You're from Beacon? I assume you three were there for the fighting." He tilted his head back in thought.

"Wait, if you're coming to visit your friend in the Capital and are from Beacon…Oh fuck." He looked up at them; he had put the clues together fast.

"You're on the same team as Jaune Arc." He kept his voice low and quickly looked around the café to see if anyone had heard them.

"I can't believe it; I'm sitting with the teammates of Alexander Arc's only son, all of whom are Hunters and Huntresses in training." Edris sat back, shock evident on his face.

"Jeez Pyr, is this what it's like to be famous?" Nora asked turning to the red head champion, who simply sighed.

"No, it could be a lot worse." Edris scrunched up his face again in confusion.

"It's a shame to hear about the High Lord though, he died at Beacon." Pyrrha froze at that, and Edris looked at her confused.

"Yea, it was a tragedy." She said stiffly and once more looked down at her drink.

"Yea I remember when word first got to us that he was dead; there wasn't a dry eye in the room. He was a good man, led us through a many hardships. Though I think some people are taking it even harder that he had died protecting another Kingdom that barely even wanted his help. It got people's blood boiling and now Vale is trying to blame us for the entire thing, riots with the general populace and warmongers in government." This was news to the three of them. They knew tension was high in Vale in regards to Atlas failure to not only stop the attacks but having their robots hijacked and used against civilians left a damning impression.

At the same time, Pyrrha couldn't help but think about what Clementine told about how people might react if they found out about her being there when Alexander died.

"So how come you aren't already with him in the capital?" Edris asked Pyrrha could feel guilt grip her again but thankfully Ren stepped in to talk.

"Oh well he left with his aunt on their own but we were given a trip to Clove and learned from there that he had to attend some things but arranged for us to have a road trip to see what it was like in Arcadia as we head to the Capital." Edris nodded his head in understanding.

The four of them continued to talk for a while before Edris looked at his wrist to check the time.

"Ah well, I have to be heading off now. I hope you enjoy your stay, it was nice meeting you all." He said cheerfully before extending his hand once more, shaking all of their hands. He walked out of the café calling out to Morgan as he left as they sat there.

"Well he was nice." Ren said as he took another sip of his tea.

"Yes he seemed like a nice fellow." Pyrrha agreed, Nora however continued to look at his seat.

"I don't trust him." Pyrrha quirked an eyebrow at Ren who just shrugged, Pyrrha turned to Nora

"Why not Nora?"

"Something is weird about him, I can't place my finger on it but I don't like it." Pyrrha sighed and finished her cup of hot chocolate.

"I guess we should be heading off now, see what else is out there." Ren said as the three of them got up and went to the counter to pay for their drinks.

Stepping back out into the streets Pyrrha looked up to see that clouds were starting to form again.

"Oh man I hope it doesn't rain soon." Nora said as they walked down as they had down earlier.

As they walked down the street Ren bumped shoulders with someone, looking to see who it was too apologize. He could see an older gentleman with short salt and pepper hair with a stubble eyeing him.

He wore a simple long black cashmere coat over black cargo pants and boots. He muttered something under his breath about insolent kids and continued walking away.

Ren wasn't sure what that was about but it left a bad feeling in his gut. He looked to his friends, Nora his longtime friend. Someone, if he was being honest, couldn't live without being in his life. People always seemed puzzled about why he lets her hang around him when he was such a quiet guy.

It was simple; she brought life to his world. For him things could easily be viewed as simple black and white. However she was the bright pink spot that always brought a smile to him. He would rather die than live without her.

As for Pyrrha she was a good friend, one he'd trust his life with. Lastly there was Jaune, he was his brother, plain and simple Ren would defend him as he would Nora.

They were his family and he wouldn't lose his family again.

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Fear.

That was all that was on Sarah Milson's mind, as she ran through the rain slick alley, her heart hammering in her chest. She looked behind her, there was nothing but darkness but in that darkness was the monster.

She had decided to cut through the alleyway with her best friend Jenifer Cardowe. They had gotten out of the after school track practice at the academy and had decided to get a bite to eat but in the alleyway they ran into someone.

It was a man, they couldn't tell what he looked like but something told Sarah that they needed to run. However when she turned too looked at Jennifer, that's when it hit her. She looked down to see a twelve inch blade sticking out of Jennifer's abdomen.

Before Jennifer could even scream a second blade pierced her throat. Sarah watched as her best friend for a better part of a decade died writhing on the ground trying to breath. Immediately she started to sprint in the direction they had come in.

However in the rain and dark mixed with her heart pumping adrenaline fueled fear she couldn't seem to find the exit. She started to cry, sobbing for whomever that was after her to spare her life.

Almost like magic she ran face first into someone, pain radiated through her forehead and she looked up. The rain slicked white armor of a Judge loomed over her, deer antlers casting a silhouette over her from the lights of the black and white armored car.

"Whoa there young one, are you the one that was screaming? We've got a report that someone heard a young girl screaming bloody murder." The slightly muffled voice of the man asked as he helped her up, Sarah scrambled up and ducked behind him.

"There is a murder! Someone psycho murdered my friend and is after me!" Judge Lillian Fredrick looked at the young girl hiding behind her partner. She's been a Judge for nearly a decade, joining the moment she left primary school.

She's seen some crazy things in that time. Murder, rape, theft, and when she was still in field training she had even seen Diaboli Cultus. The last scene she had come from before this was that of a man who had killed his daughter, fornicating with her corpse in front of the mother before torturing the poor woman.

However the sheer terror that was coming off this girl sent her hair on end.

"Grover, take her back to the car and call for backup." She said and pulled out her handgun, something told her the shock maul wasn't going to be needed. She turned on the tactical light to her handgun and peered into the alleyway.

There was nothing, not a single sign of life; however her instinct screamed that it wasn't safe. She could hear loud breathing muffle by a mask and realized that it was her.

She was hyperventilating, she heart was beating faster and adrenaline started flooding into her system. She cursed in her head, she wasn't some rookie, why was she so damn jumpy.

There was a splash behind her and she wiped around, her gun poised to fire, but it was just Grover who held his hands up.

"Whoa boss, you seem a little jumpy." Lillian shook her head in annoyance.

"Shut up rookie and get ready, something isn't right." Just as she was about to turn away, in the corner of her eye she saw a second figure behind Grover.

"Watch out!" She screamed and turned back around her gun raised. As she aimed the handgun something hit her from behind, first there was searing pain then nothing. Her legs gave out from underneath her; breathing was starting to become difficult.

She looked down to see one of her legs twitching, but she couldn't feel it. That was when she noticed the tip of a blade sticking out from her chest. She calmly wondered if it had somehow severed her spine.

She tried to move her legs but there was no response, she tried to lift herself up but the blade was still in her.

"Fuck!" She said aloud and turned to look for Grover, the figure she had seen was holding his head back as they repeatedly stabbed his throat.

She tried to focus on the figure but it was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open. All she could tell was that they were robed from head to toe. She wasn't going to be able to identify them, if she lived.

She felt movement behind her and something pulled the blade out, a second figure stepped over her. She looked up and saw that it was in fact a sword. The figured raised the sword, the blade point poised over her head. The last words that Judge Lillian Fredrick heard were.

"Et ille verus throni."

* * *

 **Well then folks, ain't that something.**

 **Over dramatic cliff hanger of sorts? Check.**

 **Anyways I've already started work on the next chapter, so I'll continue to keep the progress updates on my profile of where I am so go ahead and check that out.**

 **Anyways leave a comment or review of what you think. Or send me a PM if there's anything you wanna discuss or talk about anything that I've written or thoughts and suggestions that you might have.**

 **Another thing I've gotta say is thank you to everyone that's stuck around reading this story, I honestly thought it would flop really hard when I first posted it, and I won't lie there isn't a day that I don't think about just scrapping it because of the imperfections I find in it. However in the end I'm just like fuck it and work on it anyways.**

 **Till Next time...**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It was the early morning and Clementine looked over the reports that were filed by the Judges about the most recent string of attacks, now involving the deaths of multiple Judges.

Leaning back in her chair she sighed loudly then looked back over it. Her eyes skimmed the details of the scenes, she frowned as she read the death counts, fourteen civilians had been killed and twenty two Judges as well.

That wasn't good, the Judges were fiercely protective of their own, and she wouldn't be surprised to see them in force hunting down whoever attacked them. Which brought the main issue to fore, who was behind all of this?

It couldn't be any random civilian or serial killer, to hit that many people without being stopped would be hard enough. However all the deaths happened within minutes of each other so there were either multiple perpetrators or something more mystic was in play.

If it was just a group of people that meant they were skilled enough to get the jump on the Judges, which then meant that someone was actively trying to hunt Arcadian Citizens. Could it be the same people who attacked Vale?

It was a possibility, or it could be Arcadian Citizens who have fallen to the taint of the Ruinous Powers which meant a cult was in Helvisk. If a Cult was in Helvisk the possibility of them trying to summon or make a pact with the Ruinous Powers was high.

More often than not, blood was the common fuel for such rituals and last night a lot of blood was spilled. She set her data slate on the table before her and stood up, looking up to see a wall mounted clock she could see that it was six in the morning.

She stepped out of her room to get to the small kitchen to brew a fresh pot of coffee. However as she passed by Pyrrha's door she could hear someone talking. She stopped and waited for a few seconds focusing on hearing what was inside.

It sounded like she was calling out to someone; Clementine reached out for the door handle and slowly turned it. The door opened and she could hear a bit clearer of what she was saying.

"Jaune, please. I'm sorry!" The redhead said, tossing and turning, Clementine was about to move in to wake her up when someone grabbed her wrist. She looked over her shoulder to see Ren shaking his head, indicating with his other hand to follow him.

She backed out of the room as Pyrrha continued to toss and turn, closing the door softly as to not wake her up. The moment the door clicked closed, Clementine rounded on Ren but he had already moved to the kitchen and looked to be brewing tea.

"I know what you're going to say Clementine but it's best to leave Pyrrha alone on this." Clementine felt her eye twitch at that.

"Alone? Can't you see that something's wrong, she's having a pretty bad nightmare." Ren seemed to not pay any mind to her words and simply continued what he was doing.

"We know about Pyrrha's nightmares Clementine, they started happening after the Battle of Beacon where she almost died." Clementine stayed silent at this as she sat down on one of the couches, Ren continued.

"From what we've pieced together and from what Pyrrha's been willing to tell us, she feels guilty about what she did to Jaune, and she thinks she was the cause for Alexander's death. She most likely thinks that Jaune is going to hate her for it; she doesn't want to lose him. Nora and I tried comforting her as much as we can but we're only treating symptoms, to truly help her we would need Jaune." Clementine nodded slowly.

"So she's in a sense experiencing something like survivors guilt? She lived but her partner got hurt and his father died while she essentially got out unscathed." Ren didn't say anything and stepped out of the kitchen, placing a tea cup in front of her. Nodding her thanks she picked it up, blowing on it slightly to cool it before taking a sip.

"So why are you awake so early?" Ren asked as he sat across from her, a cup in his hand as well.

"Oh, well I was just doing some early morning reading and thought I would make some coffee."

"What sort of reading?" Clementine paused for a few seconds before flashing a smile.

"Oh it's nothing, just some logistical reports that were forwarded to me. Military stuff, you'd find it boring." Ren didn't look at her as he sipped his cup before setting it down on the table. He looked up and Clementine could see that he didn't believe a single word she said.

"Really now? I figured it would have to do something about the string of civilian murders and the deaths of Judges last night." Clementine narrowed her eyes, setting her own cup down.

"And how would you know that Lie Ren." Ren simply chuckled and pointed behind her, Clementine looked over her shoulder to see that the television was on a news station. The headline was about the murders last night, and she simply placed her face into her hands.

"Bloody journalists." She murmured into her hands, Ren laughed a little before his face grew serious.

"So what's going on?" He asked, and Clementine shook her head.

"No one knows, at first the Judges thought it was just a serial killer but what happened last night indicated something much larger going on. They're most likely going to start putting Judges on the street in force, the next logical step initiate a curfew, not a mandatory one but they'll start questioning anyone they find suspicious at night and might even detain them. If things get even worse, a mandatory curfew will be initiated until they find who's done this."

"What happens if it doesn't get solved?" Clementine sighed, brushing her tail slightly.

"I suppose outside help will be brought in, who responds will depend on what happening at that point." She said and the two of them sat there for a while not speaking, a door creaked as it opened and Pyrrha stepped out from her room.

"Good morning." She said with a slight yawn.

"Hello Pyrrha, tea?" Ren asked as he stood up and went to the kitchen to grab another cup.

"Why thank you Ren." Pyrrha said as she noticed Clementine in the corner of her eye.

"Oh. Clementine, how are you this morning?" Clementine wasn't sure what to say at first, part of her wanted to sit Pyrrha done so she can talk. However if Ren was telling the truth, her teammates were already working on that and it would be uncouth for her to just bring it up.

"I'm fine Pyrrha, sleep well?" Clementine asked, doing her best to put on a smile. Thankfully Pyrrha didn't seem to notice as she was accepting a cup from Ren.

"So what's the plan today?" Pyrrha asked as she took a seat with them as well.

"Ah about that, Pyrrha you should know that last night there was an attack on civilians and Judges in Helvisk, the town might not be safe to wander around anymore." Pyrrha frowned a little.

"So should we just leave then?" Clementine shrugged.

"It's up to you three, the next stop is the city of Laelia, it's a thirty six hour drive from here from there we can either hop from town to town till we get to the Capital which would take four to five days or go straight to the Capital which would take three or four days depending on the weather." Pyrrha looked between Ren and Clementine.

"What about these people here? If someone's hunting them down shouldn't we help?" Clementine shook her head.

"Arcadia wouldn't look kindly upon someone interfering in an investigation without them being sanctioned by the Government. While you may be guests on the behalf of Legatus Saul and the Arcs, Diplomatic Immunity doesn't cover you considering you're not actual Diplomats or Representatives of a Foreign Power." Ren nodded in understanding.

"I understand the point; we're guest of another nation, one that doesn't recognize Huntsmen and Huntresses in its structure. If we started interfering and mess up, we would not only have to shoulder the blame but would have painted the overall image of Huntsmen and Huntresses of the Four Kingdoms in a bad light." Clementine nodded as she set her cup down on the table and clasps her hands together.

"So which path shall we take?" Ren and Pyrrha exchanged looks; Pyrrha looked down at the table crossing her arms.

"I think we should head straight to the Capital." She said Clementine raised an eyebrow.

"It's a long trip; we'll be sleeping in the jeep till we arrive." Pyrrha shrugged.

"I don't mind, besides is there really no inn or anything that we could stop by on the way and if there's nothing we've got the camping gear so we can just camp out on the side of the road if necessary." Clementine just sighed and leaned back in her seat.

"Fine, we've got a few things that we'll need to make sure we have such as fuel, I'll take care of that, we've got the camping supplies, I guess all we really need is food for the trip." At that moment, Nora's door flung open and the hammer wielder joined the three of them.

"We can handle that! Right guys?" Nora said with a grin, Clementine just nodded and went back into her room to retrieve three clear plastic cards.

"Each card holds about five hundred credits, buy what we need first and if you've got the time and money left, get yourself something." Clementine said before turning around to head back inside, however she stopped at the door and turned around again.

"Also, I recommend that you take your weapons with your, but please only use them in self-defense." Nora looked at Ren and Pyrrha with puzzlement on her face.

"Wait what?"

* * *

 **Twenty Minutes Later…**

"Sooo we're leaving Helvisk to avoid any trouble that's brewing between whoever's behind these attacks and the local Authorities." Nora asked as the three teammates walked down the sidewalk, a few people were eyeing them from across the street. Pyrrha couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious; they had left the rooms with their weapons.

Well Nora and Ren left with their weapons, Pyrrha was walking with the kopis sword that she was given by Sanian, from what seemed like months ago. She had strapped it to the waist of her outfit, which today consisted of another flannel of Jaune's along with black cargo pants and black combat boots.

Her hair was tied up in its usual ponytail and she had decided to wear her bronze circlet. Turning around the corner up ahead a four door black and white armored car appeared.

"Crap, it's the fuzz." Nora whispered as the car pulled up to the curb, the driver and passenger doors opened. Two armored Judges stepped out; Pyrrha immediately noticed that their hands were on the handles of their maces.

"You three, state your business." The closest one said a male voice muffled by their helmet but Pyrrha could still detect the cold professionalism in it.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, these are my teammates Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren, we're students of Beacon Academy here as guests of Legatus Saul, and being escorted by Captain Alice Clementine, Arcadian Military Logistics. We're trying to find the nearest market to buy supplies as we travel to the Capital, can you help us?" Pyrrha said politely, the Judge seemed to just stand there for a few moments before stepping back to his partner.

The two of them seemed to back off to the other side of vehicle, after a little bit they both came back out. However this time she could see that their demeanor was to a little more amiable.

"What can we help you with ma'am?" One of them asked, and Pyrrha smiled widely.

"Yes, well we're trying to find the nearest market or store in which we can purchase supplies." The lead Judge nodded.

"There's a market about six blocks from here, we can take you." The Judge said, stepping back to the armored Vehicle and opening the back door. Pyrrha looked at Ren and Nora who just shrugged, the three teens entering the vehicle.

Ren took the far end with Nora in the middle and Pyrrha taking the other side. The Judge closed the door behind them and Pyrrha noticed that there was no handle on the inside.

The interior wasn't the most comfortable; the seating was hard plastic with no seat belts. Between the Judges who sat in the driver and passenger seat a metal screen with a simple slot for them to look through. There was also some sort of speaker in it with a button next to it but Pyrrha didn't know what it was for.

"So why do you three have weapons?" A voice called out through a speaker in front of them. Pyrrha exchanged looks with Ren and Nora and pressed the button that was next to it.

"Uh we're Beacon Students, which means we're Huntsman and Huntresses in training so we have these weapons. Plus we saw what happened on the news about last night and figured that it would be better safe than sorry."

"Fair enough, never seen weapons like that, well except for yours Ms. Nikos. It looks a lot like a gladius that the Sisterhood uses."

"Actually this blade was given to me by Sanian Arc, after I lost mine in the Battle of Beacon."

"Whoa, that's pretty cool." The Judge said, and Pyrrha sat back as they continued driving, within moments they could feel the vehicle brake. There was a sound of a door opening, and the door next to Pyrrha opened up.

"Well, here's your stop, be safe and have a nice day." The helmed Judge said, stepping aside for Pyrrha to exit.

"Thank you!" She called out as the man entered the vehicle and it drove away, leaving the three of them standing on the sidewalk. Turning around they could see several rows of stands of people selling various items from books to prime cut meat.

Kids were running and screaming in playful joy as older folk congregated in groups talking amongst themselves about their daily lives. Pyrrha loved the atmosphere, turning to look at Ren and Nora however she saw something.

Ren and Nora looked comfortable in the environment but Ren's eyes seemed to betray something. Something that he wanted to keep hidden and what Ren knew, Nora knew for she seemed to always glance at Ren out of the corner of her eye. Not in the playful sense that Pyrrha saw when they were truly having a good time or were at Beacon. No, this was something that told of a past that was long kept hidden.

"Well, I guess we should start buying what we need." Pyrrha said clapping her hands together to gain their attention.

"Well I'll focus on produce; Nora can look at the meat and Pyrrha, well, get whatever looks good." Ren said Pyrrha and Nora nodded before setting off to focus on their respective tasks.

It was about ten minutes later as Pyrrha was looking at some jewelry after picking up snacks such as crackers, granola bars, and a variety pack of candy bars.

She was particularly interested in a necklace with a dark green jade stone. She marveled at the craftsmanship, the jade stone had finely carved lines into, giving it a ribbed feeling as she held it between her fingers.

"Eh, young one. Are you interested in buying?" An older bald gentleman spoke from behind the stand he had darker skin that indicated that he had spent most of his time out in the sun. Despite the supposed older age he had by the grating voice and wrinkles around his eyes. Pyrrha could see that he still had a fit body of a man twenty years his junior.

"Ah, well sir I was just admiring your merchandise." He nodded; Pyrrha could see his face soften a little as she said that.

"I see you've got a good eye young one, most of these wear craved and finished by my late wife, Throne rest her soul. Figured I should share her work with those of the younger generation, ya know instead of sitting and gathering dust in our attic." Pyrrha tilted her head a little at the use of a certain phrase but it turned to sympathy at hearing about his dead wife.

"I'm sorry to hear about your wife sir." The man waved a hand dismissively in front of his face.

"No need to apologize young one, she and I lived a happy forty years together married right after I honorably discharged from the army." Pyrrha looked up in surprise.

"You were a soldier?" The man grinned and thumped his chest with his right hand.

"Yup, served for four years with the 62nd Field Artillery Regiment earned my discharged during the Siege of Crimson Gulch. There was a massive Grimm horde that razed several towns and the Army Garrison at Fort Erhert. Ah, well a young lass like you probably doesn't want to hear some story like that." Pyrrha shook her head.

"No, no I would love to hear about this." The man looked surprised at that but just shook his head chuckling before reaching down and pulling out a folding chair. He indicated for her to come to the side of the stand as he unfolded it. Pyrrha sat down, nodding her thanks. The man scratched his chin in thought.

"Eh? Where was I?" Pyrrha smiled.

"You said something about a Grimm horde." Pyrrha said helpfully, and the man nodded as if he was the one to think of the answer.

"Ah! Yes the Grimm, see there was an epidemic that broke out on one of the smaller border towns but the population was in such misery despite the help of the Hospitaller. As you may know such dread and extreme of negative emotion drew the Grimm in mass numbers. Sadly there was even more pain amongst the people but not in the body but soul. That stretch of the Terminus Cohortis, or the ones assigned as Border Guards were depleted in strength as the Forces of the Ruinous Powers sprouted in the Southeast. Most of the Sisterhood, Legion and six whole Divisions, including elements of various garrisons which so happened to include that area, were needed to put it down. It was one of the worst years in the past decade. Families were lost or torn apart, thousands dead or wounded, it was a tragedy." The man coughed a little, Pyrrha couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more that he wasn't letting on. However it wasn't her place to pry into his life.

"Anyways, the Grimm broke the back of the Terminus Cohortis at the Siege of Fort Erhert, two thousand men and woman of the 2nd Army's, 4th Division, 177th Infantry passed into History. See while they may have died to the last, they were able to hold the brunt of the Grimm at bay as the nearby Towns and Villages, ones just like Helvisk, were evacuated. Though the Grimm were able to break off a number of their own to continue pursuit of the civilians as the defenders were trapped, unable to do anything. Thousands more died as Arcadia struggled to put together a significant force to push back and retake the land. It was on the third day that we got word from aerial reconnaissance that the Grimm had broken the last wall of the defenders. It was at that time that Alexander Arc decided to step in personally." The old man seemed to smile as if recalling a glorious dream that he once had.

"Straight from the Capital, he led a force of a thousand Sentinels to the beleaguered region. Army, Sisterhood, Legion and even the Arbites flocked that weren't deployed already. One of those Army units was my Regiment, our Commanding Officer received orders to deployed fourteen klicks to the southeast of their last known location. The Frigate Fortitude started to do low orbit bombardments to pen the Grimm in from extending any farther. Our unit begins to set up the batteries; a standard field battery is broken down to twelve guns per company with two hundred men and women in it, four companies in a battalion. We employed M114s which fire a 155mm shell, lighter batteries used the M101, and the heavy field pieces used the Earthshaker Cannons, monstrous guns that fire a 220mm shell. Anyways, here we are with forty eight guns of our battalion, with four other sites with the other battalions and more stretching to our north and south. Fortitude's F.A.C. had their Lightning's start calling coordinates and the command for a Fire for Effect was given, and we just unleash everything we've got." The man gestured wide with his arms to try and emphasis his point.

"We've must have fired hundreds if not thousands of shells if we take into account other Army units. However let's skip to the important part of this story, if was about twelve hours after the start of the barrage when the order was switched to a Time on Target objective with new coordinates given. A Time on Target is the order to saturate a suspected hot landing zone for incoming friendlies. It was at that time when the Grimm hit us, it seemed that a few of the more independent thinking Grimm had already pushed forward. So without warning a Beowolf Alpha comes charging into the middle of the battalion. With the guns being fired as such no one heard it until it the damage was already done. I was loading a shell into the breech of a M114 when the Beowolf came on us. I remembered it killing two of my crew mates, I was left standing there. However it was then that I noticed that it was standing near a pile of shells, so I did a dumb thing and pulled out my handgun and fired at it. It must have set something off cause the next thing I knew was that I was at least thirty meters from where the gun was. A massive crater with the burning wreckage of artillery guns that were caught in the blast, the explosion had set off a chain reaction. I had just destroyed a dozen field guns. I was shipped out from there after that due to this." The man stepped out of the booth and Pyrrha could see that his right leg was abnormal. Pulling up his pant leg, her eyes widened in surprise, below the knee was a robotic leg.

"I was given the choice because my first term of service was almost up to either continue serving or be given an honorable discharged. I decided to leave, though I was awarded the Crimson Medallion on top of a purple star. The Army gave me a new leg along with eight months of therapy. After that I married the woman of my dreams and well after a happy life together, she passed away, and now I'm here." The man said Pyrrha could see his eyes seem to water a little before going distant.

"Well thank you for your service sir, and thank you for taking the time to tell me about your life." The man smiled as Pyrrha handed the chair back folded.

"Ah it's no problem, in fact, why not take something in return for listening to this old man." Pyrrha looked at him surprised.

"No, I can't that wouldn't be fair of me to take something like that." The man picked up a simply string necklace with a round dark green jadestone. He took Pyrrha's right arm and placed it in her hand.

"I insist, and you can't give it back." Pyrrha just blinked at her hand. Looking down at it and up at the old man, she wasn't sure what to do so she just hugged him.

"Thank you, I mean it." She said, the man simply laughed and patted her back. Pyrrha thanked the man and went on her way. As she stepped out, someone bumped into her, looking up she saw a large man. He was at least seven feet as looked to be built like Yatsuhashi.

"I'm sorry; I wasn't watching where I was going." Pyrrha said, bowing her head slightly, there was a grunt and she assumed it came from him. She took a second look at him.

He wore a large black cloak with the hood pulled up; it reached down to his feet where she could see that he wore black leather boots. On his back was a large black leather bound handle, Pyrrha could tell that it was the handle to a weapon but couldn't tell what kind. In his hand was a black duffel bag.

Something about him was strange, but he simply stepped past her and continued on. Pyrrha watched for a few moments but turned around, heading the opposite way. It was already getting late and she needed to find Ren and Nora.

* * *

 **Five Minutes Later…**

As Pyrrha walked between the market stalls she couldn't help but notice a change in atmosphere. Everywhere she looked she could see people with dour looks on their faces talking with each other in hush tones.

This must be due to the fact of all the recent killings, people were understandably worried. It was escalating fast, from a few sporadic kills to attacks on the Judges.

What happens next is the question and what many are no doubt worried is about how bad it'll be.

As Pyrrha entered the center of the market place she could see dozens of people milling around chatting. The atmosphere here wasn't so bad due to all the younger children around who laughed and cried in joy, the worries of the world nonexistent in their small worlds.

Pain, death, misery were simply words to them. None had the meaning or context to understand what could possibly go wrong for them or their loved ones. A part of her envied their innocence but another part if anything felt sorry, they weren't any safer than the rest of them.

If anything they would be more hurt when that illusion of peace and happiness was shattered. For some reason she couldn't help but think about Ruby Rose.

While they had their differences she was still a good kid. However Pyrrha knows that she had a lofty ambition to help people when they first met, it was something that she held firm all the way to the festival. However after that point she wasn't sure, they hadn't really spoken long before the fighting started.

As she looked around the area Pyrrha was finally able to find the two of them by a large three tier water fountain. As she got closer she could see that they had half a dozen bags at their feet as well.

"Pyrrha! Over here!" Nora called out as soon as she saw the red hair champion. As Pyrrha got even closer she could make out a few items that the two had picked up.

Ren had bought apples, pears, carrots, along with several mixed bags of nuts and berries. Nora on the other hand had bought salted pork and beef jerky. Ren held out his hand and Pyrrha gave him her bags and started looking through.

"Yup looks like we've got enough food for the trip to the Capital." Ren said as he stood up, picking up his bag, Nora and Pyrrha stood up as well. Ren saw in the corner of his eye a familiar face. They turned to meet his gaze. Ren felt dread form in his stomach as he recognizes the look of fear on his face. His eyes had drifted to the side towards the Fountain.

"Get back!" Ren shouted just as a bright flash of light appeared followed by a thunderclap of sound and an incredible force that sent the three friends flying back. Ren felt a flare of pain erupt on his back as he crashed into a stand.

People were screaming in fear all around him, he opened his eyes and for a second he couldn't see anything. It was only then that he realized that something was obscuring his vision, reaching up his fingers brushed the heated fabric of a tent. Sitting up he pushed it away, to reveal a dust filled square, people were screaming in terror or pain.

One woman was kneeling in front of him whimpering, Ren could see a puddle of blood next to her. In that puddle was an arm separated from the elbow down. He stood up and stumbled to her.

"Ma'am!? Are you alright?" He yelled slightly, his ears were ringing and his voice felt scratchy. She looked up at him, and he could tell that she was losing blood fast, her skin pale as clean linen. As Ren kneeled next to her, something hit her Ren looked down in surprise to see a black arrow protruding out of her chest.

Following the direction it came from, Ren narrowed his eyes to see a cloaked figure holding a white bow. Three more figures came out into the clearing on either side of him, as three more explosions went off around the market.

One was a giant of a person, at least the height, if not taller than even Yatsuhashi. The giant was holding a long-handled hammer with a large head that was flat all around with an additional spike on top.

The next figure was tall but not as tall was the hammer wielder but much more lean. This person held two single head war axes that were red and had curved handles.

The last to enter the clearing was neither remarkable in size nor underwhelming. However what was most peculiar was the weapon, they held a curved twin bladed weapon. Ren stood up, and pulled out StormFlower.

"Ren!" A familiar voiced called from behind and Nora ran up, Magnhild in its war hammer form. Her face and clothes were covered in soot; she eyed the four individuals in front of them.

"Who are these people?" Ren held StormFlower at the ready, as they did with their weapons, Nora looked frantically around.

"Wait, where's Pyrrha?" At that moment the archer let loose an arrow aimed at Nora, quickly following it up with another at Ren. However halfway through the air, the arrows started to dip drastically and fell to the ground embedding in the concrete.

Pyrrha came climbing out of another wrecked market stand, she held her kopis sword in her right hand and a knife in her left. The twinblade holder and archer turned towards Pyrrha, Ren could see her eyes narrow at the sight of the archer.

At that moment the giant hammer wielder along with the dual war axe user charged Ren and Nora. Nora swung Magnhild and met the head of her opponent's weapon. Surprisingly enough the blow sent both back, however Nora was flung onto her back while her opponent simply skidded back a few meters.

Ren brought up his right arm using Flower to block an overhead swing of one of the war axes. Firing from the waist he unloaded Storm at his opponent but they had already moved to his right, swinging their right axe upward while bring the other one down opposite.

Ren jumped back, the axe heads whishing through the air where he once stood. Sprinting forward he fired StormFlower in short bursts. While none of the rounds hit his opponent it forced them to keep moving to avoid getting hit, thus allowing Ren to close in while on his terms.

Lashing out with Storm, the hooded figure ducked and kicked up at his hand. Following the momentum of the kick Ren spun around slashing with Flower, missing but following it up with Storm again. However instead of using the blade, Ren stepped back and fired. The Dust rounds impacted the individual and they fell back.

For a second Ren felt his stomach twist at the thought that this person didn't have their aura unlocked. However they rolled to the side and stood up, their cloak was in tatters and underneath Ren caught the shine of armor.

His opponent readied their weapons and charged at Ren. He opened up with StormFlower, most missed as they jumped from side to side forward, the few that made contact sparked off their armor.

As the person got closer, Ren slashed down with Flower as his adversary swung up with one axe. Ren reached out with Storm but they smashed it aside with the top of the second axe. As Ren made to break away, they dropped their axes and jumped forward.

Ren could feel the armored arms wrap around his torso, bringing him down. As his back hit the warm cement they straddled his chest, armored knees on top of his arms pinning them down. StormFlower was out of reach. He looked up to see the adversary raised their fists and started bringing it down.

As the fists struck Ren knew that while his aura would prevent any last damage it didn't stop all the pain and it wouldn't last forever. Each strike against his face brought of flash of white and pain, he tucked his legs in and bucked forward with his waist.

The figure toppled over with a grunt, and Ren narrowed his eyes a little at the sound, whoever he was facing was a woman. As rolled to his feet, his eyes widened as she was already coming at him with a fist sailing towards face. Raising his hands he palmed the forearm from the left causing it to sail past his right eye.

She followed through with the motion and spun to kick him, Ren closed his arms together shielding himself as her shin made contact. Going on the offensive he jumped forward lashing out with his palm, making sure to augment it with his aura. However she spun away to the side, ducking low she hammered an armored fist at his solar plexus.

She grabbed his shoulders, and Ren lowered his guard to protect his body. Instead she used him as leverage to flip over him. He felt armored arms locking around his waist, before he knew it; he was lifted and falling backwards.

Ren could feel another explosion of pain erupt from the back of his head and shoulders. He needed to create some distance to gather his thoughts. He rolled to the side, in the corner of his eye StormFlower were on the concrete a few feet away from him.

However that was his undoing, as he dove and picked them up. He turned around just in time to see an axe sailing for his face.

The back blunt end of the war axe smashed into Ren's left temple, knocking him to the ground. Moaning softly he opened his magenta eyes to see the armored form of his adversary standing over him with her dual war axes.

"You put up a good fight." She said, her voice slightly muffled, her face still shrouded by the hood of her cloak. The last thing Ren saw was that she raised a war axe and brought it down on him.

Pyrrha ducked and kicked the feet out from underneath of the twinblade user. As they fell to the ground she leapt forward, her knee meeting the head of her opponent. As her knee made contact she could feel the metal that surrounded their body.

At that moment she heard the sound of a bowstring being pulled taunt and released. Jumping back just in time to avoid an arrow that was poised to strike her chest, she spun to face the archer eyes widening as she saw another arrow was already soaring at her.

Pyrrha rolled to the side and immediately got to her feet and started running at the archer, her kopis sword held at ready. The archer drew and fired another arrow rapidly, Pyrrha slashed down, knocking the arrow aside, quickly following it by throwing the knife she had in her other hand.

The archer started running to the side to avoid the blade, drawing another arrow to notch in their bow. Pyrrha flexed her hand; the throwing knife was outlined in black as she directed the trajectory to curve to the side.

The blade followed the archer, who turned and quickly let loose an air, colliding midair with the knife knocking it aside.

There was the series of dull whumps followed by numerous explosions, behind Pyrrha and she knew that they were coming from Nora. However why she needed them was beyond her as the twinblade user was already on their feet and charging Pyrrha.

Nora crouched in the ruins of the stand she was sent into after swinging Magnhild at the hammer wielder. Aiming Magnhild in its grenade launcher form, she had unloaded every grenade in the weapon. The resulting explosions shrouded the giant in black and pink smoke.

She stood up grinning, having taken care of the problem, Magnhild switching to its hammer form she looked towards Ren's fight. He seemed to be barely holding his ground against his opponent.

Out of the smoke the giant suddenly came charging out, Nora spun facing the giant, Magnhild in hand. The giant's cloak was gone, revealing a large black and white armored figure running at her.

It wore a full armor, a breast plate that was connected to a plackart and a fauld; the edges were painted black while the rest was white. From there covering its thighs was a two white plated tasset, underneath that was a black cuisse that was wrapped fully around it. Connecting from there were white poleyns that connected with the greaves then sabatons.

Around its shoulders were two large pauldrons with neck guards that were extended an inch high. From the under the pauldron covering the upper arms that were the size of Nora's thighs a rerebrace covered them, connecting to the couters of the arms. Around its forearms were white vambraces that connected to metallic gauntlets.

She gripped Magnhild tightly, whoever this was they were stronger than her and they both knew that.

Nora charged, as they met, the giant swung down with its hammer and Nora jumped to the side. The hammer head buried itself into the concrete ground, sending spider cracks a dozen feet in every direction.

Spinning around Nora swung Magnhild upwards, the hammer head striking the chest of the giant, this time spending them flying off their feet. She could hear the guttural grunt of pain the giant made as they fell.

Nora pressed the advantage, jumping up over the fallen form of her opponent. However as Magnhild head drew closer, the giant swung his own hammer again. The two heads making contact, while the giant was driven further into the ground. Nora was sent flying back again, this time crashing against the ruined fountain.

Shaking her head, she looked up to see the giant on his feet again closing in on her. Swinging his hammer down, Nora rolled to her right. The hammer smashed down against the side of the fountain shattering whatever it made contact with.

Nora got to her feet and swung Magnhild down, aiming for the back of his left leg. Magnhild connected, and Nora watched as the greave bent inward and the distinct crack of bone followed. Nora froze as she realized the giant had no aura.

In that momentary lapse, the giant swung his hammer backwards; Nora looked up just in time to see it connect with her chest. Pain flared, and the breath was driven out from her as she was sent hurtling back again towards the stands.

More pain flared across her back as she crashed into a smoldering pile of wood that was once a market stand. She tried to sit up but breathing was arduous, she looked up to see Ren was out cold on the concrete.

Rage flared through her and she tried to stand up but her body barely responded. Her limbs and muscles protesting, until they fully gave out causing her fall, she could feel frustration boiling in her. She looked up to see that only Pyrrha was left standing, switching her gaze over to Ren before exhaustion took her from consciousness.

The twinblade user charged straight towards Pyrrha who had to roll under another arrow and brought up the kopis sword in time to meet one of the blades. Just as the blades met, her opponent stepped to the side, spinning the twinblade around in their hands and came swinging at another angle.

Pyrrha stepped to the side and ducked as the twinblade user adjusted their position so the twinblade slashed at her horizontally. As she ducked the user brought up their knee but Pyrrha blocked it with her left forearm. Then she stabbed forward with the kopis blade, her opponent twisted to the side, spinning the twinblade to knock the blade aside.

Pyrrha followed the movement but pivoting on her left foot to kick at their head. However they ducked and stepped around Pyrrha, bringing the twinblade up. She felt her aura flare to protect her as the blade slammed into her back. While the blade didn't cut her thanks to her aura, there was still the dulled impact of it against her, which still hurt.

As she stumbled forward an arrow slammed into her left arm, it bounced off but the force sent her falling to her right.

She rolled with the movement getting back on her feet with the kopis blade ready in time to meet another blade slash of the twinblade. However this time her opponent reacted first, instead of breaking away they spun the up, the bottom blade knocking the kopis sword up, effectively breaking Pyrrha's guard. She could see in almost slow motion as the first blade was rotating back up to meet her sternum.

Pyrrha flexed her free hand; the blade was shrouded briefly in black as Pyrrha used her polarity to push the blade to her right. Giving her the space to break away and come in again on the offensive.

Alternating between slashing and thrusting, Pyrrha pressed in on the twinblade user, who surprisingly was keeping up with her. Pyrrha knew that the archer was still there, so she needed to deal with the twinblade user fast.

Pyrrha with her free hand reached behind her and pulled out another throwing knife but kept her hand wrapped around it so the twinblade user couldn't see. As Pyrrha ducked another horizontal strike, she thrust her kopis sword at the twinblade user's right leg. They stepped to her left and that was when she struck with her left hand.

Using her semblance to aid her, Pyrrha threw the knife at the back of the left knee. The twinblade user yelled in a high tone voiced indicating it was a woman. Pyrrha capitalized on the moment, twisting her right hand, she slammed the kopis blade into the torso of the woman.

Pyrrha watched almost in a fascinated state as the blade bit into her torso, falling back, she slide away from Pyrrha blade. Pyrrha heard the sound of someone running behind her, she knew it couldn't be Nora or Ren they would have called out her name.

As the sound got close, Pyrrha dove forward, she could hear the sound of something whishing through the air. Rolling to her feet she looked around to see the dual axe user closing on her. However in the corner of her eye she could see the archer letting loose another arrow.

Pyrrha gritted her teeth as she dodged to the left, and brought her sword up in time to meet an axe head. The axe user swung their second axe low, aiming for Pyrrha's left side; using her left leg she kicked their forearm away.

At that moment pain flared across her right side as something heavy slammed into sending her flying. Pyrrha landed on something hard, groaning she turned over and saw something that made her heart squeeze in pain.

It was the old man from earlier, his clothes were soaked in blood, and in his arms was a little girl no more than seven.

She reached out and put two fingers on his neck, checking for a pulse, there was nothing. Pyrrha started to hyperventilate, she touched the cheek of the little girl, her skin was still warm, pressing two fingers against her neck, and she could feel the faint beat of her heart.

Pyrrha took a careful look at the girl; she had short blond hair and pale skin. Pyrrha wasn't sure if that was her natural tone but something inside her broke.

Pyrrha turned to see the dual axe wielder standing over her, weapons raised to delivery another blow. As the axe wielder swung down Pyrrha extended her hands with a cry of rage. Halting the axe wielder, she could see them quivering as they tried to move.

Looking past the axe wielder Pyrrha could see the other two coming towards them. The giant using the hammer as a crutch while the archer readied another arrow, Pyrrha stared at the axe wielder and gripped their hood. She pulled it back to reveal, a woman, silver hair with pale skin, brown eyes flickered towards Pyrrha in utter disdain. However Pyrrha returned it with one of her own.

"So you wish to kill the innocent as some statement? Well let me show you what you deserve for it." Pyrrha said as she lifted the kopis blade, the woman didn't blink as Pyrrha placed the edge against her bare neck.

"Any last words?" The woman smiled contently.

"Seek not escape from misery in death for He That Is Most Mighty gathers not the Selfish Dead to his side. I know where I'm going Witch, but do you?" Pyrrha slide the blade across, the woman's eyes went glassy as blood started to ooze out from a thin line across her neck. Blood leaked down across the tattered robes and armor.

Pyrrha eased the control of her semblance over the body, letting it fall to the ground. Pyrrha looked up to see the archer aiming a bow at her. They were barely a dozen feet away; Pyrrha cursed herself for letting them get so close, even at that distance she wouldn't get out unscathed.

However, before the archer released the arrow there was a loud crack. The hooded head snapped to the left side, a crimson mist filling the air around the head.

The archer fell to the floor, dead. Pyrrha looked up to see the giant hefting its hammer looking for wherever the shot came from. It was only then that she realized that the local authorities had arrived.

Pyrrha watched as dozens of Judges swarmed the clearing, two black and white Bullheads came screaming into the air. Floodlights turned on, one pointed at Pyrrha, another at the giant. Some of the Judges were armed with long thin weapons that had a pistol grip on them while others had handguns pointed at Pyrrha and the giant.

"Drop the weapons, and get on the ground!" Someone yelled their voiced amplified over a speaker. Pyrrha dropped the kopis sword, and laid stomach down with her hands behind her head.

The giant however, simply hefted his hammer and charged the Judges. Pyrrha heard someone yell to fire, and her hearing was flooded by the dull cracks of handguns mixed with the loud bangs of what seemed to be shotguns.

Pyrrha couldn't look up as she heard the sound of men and woman screaming in pain. The gunfire intensified for what seemed to be several minutes before finally dying down. As Pyrrha could hear people calling for medics, she identified several pairs of booted feet closing in on her.

"Identify yourself!" A muffled woman's voiced shouted; Pyrrha had no doubt that the Judges had their weapons trained on her.

"Pyrrha Nikos ma'am, I was just defending myself when the attack happened." Gloved hands gripped Pyrrha by the arms and pulled her up. She came face to face with an older woman; she had grey hair and two scars that ran from her right temple down to her chin. Pyrrha could see the steel in the woman's eyes; she wasn't one to be trifled with.

Looking around Pyrrha was able to fully take in the level of destruction that happened in the market square. The air was cloudy with smoke and dust that had yet to settle, loose and shattered rubble lay scattered throughout the air from the explosions.

Market stands lay in ruins, either by the concussive force of the blasts or smoldering from the fires they caused. Bodies lay strewn throughout the area, most of them were civilians. Pyrrha could pick out a dozen or so bodies of Judges on the ground.

Walking amongst the bodies were more Judges trying to find anyone still alive, while others started to set up a perimeter. Four large trucks drove into the square, the backs opening and women from the Sisters Hospitaller came running out to immediately get to work.

Pyrrha felt her insides churn as she saw stretchers being brought out; Nora and Ren were being loaded onto them. The Judge Captain snapped her fingers in front of Pyrrha's face.

"She's with me Captain." A familiar voice called out and Pyrrha turned her head to see Clementine standing with her arms crossed. The Judge Captain regarded her for a few moments before standing up straighter.

"You're that Army Logistics Captain I presume?" Clementine nodded, the Captain sighed and ran a gloved hand over her hair.

"Fucking hell, could you tell your charges not to go around with deadly weapons." Clementine stepped closer.

"Actually I told them to take them. I had them go on an errand gathering supplies for our journey to the Capital and instructed them to go armed. As you can see my judgment was sound. Being that they're students of Beacon Academy." The Judge Captain narrowed her eyes.

"They're Huntsmen?" Clementine nodded.

"Students to be fair but capable ones nonetheless, anyways if you wouldn't mind please see to it that they get proper medical checkup and I'll take them off your hand, plus forward my supervisor the paperwork, he'll love to do it." The Judge quirked an eyebrow as she motioned for her subordinates to escort Pyrrha away to the awaiting Sisters.

"So who am I swamping with bureaucratic bullshit?" Clementine smiled.

"Legatus Saul, Commander of the Legion."

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Pyrrha once again found herself in the white rooms of an Arcadian Hospital; Sisters of the Hospitaller roamed the hallways outside. She sat on the hospital bed, while her aura had kept her safe from the more grievous injuries. Her body was littered with bruises from where she had taken hits either from the blast or fighting.

She looked down at her hands; they felt rougher than they should be. The flash of her slashing the woman's throat appeared in Pyrrha's mind. Her fists clenched, not at disgust at herself but in rage, it boiled inside of her.

How could these people just do these things? The sight of the old man lying dead as he had tried protecting that little girl popped in mind.

Pyrrha felt the urge to hit something, but a small part of her willed her to take a deep breath. Pyrrha closed her eyes, the images of the carnage wracked her mind but she filled her lungs with the tangy air of sterilized hospital air. Releasing it slowly she could feel herself calm down enough.

At that moment the door to her room opened, Pyrrha looked up to see Clementine standing there. She looked as tired as Pyrrha felt. The Faunus captain sat in a nearby chair, running a hand over her hair.

"Well today has been something." Clementine said, Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh a little.

"That's putting it mildly." Pyrrha stood up, wincing as the aching feeling in her body increased.

"Are you okay Pyrrha?" Clementine asked concern obviously on her face, Pyrrha shook her head.

"It's okay Clementine; it's just been a while since I had to fight, let alone fighting that intensely." Clementine nodded, the door to the room opened again this time Ren and Nora trudged in. Pyrrha smiled at them, Ren simply nodded but Nora gave her own slightly weaker than normal smile.

"So how are you guys feeling?" Pyrrha asked as they sat on the bed, Nora chuckled.

"Like I went a dozen rounds with you while I was tied to a pole." Pyrrha smiled as she sat next to her and looked at Ren who shrugged.

"I can't deny that Nora's assessment is that far off the point." Clementine watched as the three teens started to laugh. After a few moments the laughing died down and Ren looked at Clementine, curiosity shining in his eyes.

"So what now?" Clementine tilted her head a little at the question.

"Isn't it obvious? We're gonna continue with the trip." Nora and Pyrrha turned to look at her in surprise, Clementine quirked an eyebrow at that response.

"Wait, we're not staying to help?" Clementine shook her head.

"Why would you?" Pyrrha felt outrage fill her.

"Why?! They attacked us, they attacked innocent people in broad daylight we should do something!" Clementine raised a hand to stop her.

"It seems you've forgotten Pyrrha but you're not the Law here nor does Arcadia recognize the validity of Huntsmen operating in our lands. If you go out there and try to take the Law into your own hands, no matter how skilled or helpful you are, you will simply be seen as vigilantes and subsequently placed under arrest until someone with more authority than I can help you." Pyrrha closed her mouth, Clementine was right but that didn't mean she liked it.

"Make no mistake, after the Judges are done debriefing you and the hospital gives clearance for you to leave we're gonna continue heading to the Capital. I've already taken the liberty in procuring more supplies for the trip." Clementine said simply as she stood up and headed to the door. She paused halfway out the door and turned around.

"Look I know you want to do something but you can't we're different from the Four Kingdoms and while we'll try to adapt with the outside world. You'll have to be patient until then." She said before leaving, the door closing softly behind her.

The three teens sat around together in silence for a little while, the only sound that could be heard was from the outside.

"So what do we do now?" Nora asked, breaking the silence first.

"If we go after them we risk running against the wrong side of the law." Ren said Pyrrha rubbed a hand against her face.

"So? Team RWBY broke the rules all the time."

"But they did it in Vale, plus Ozpin always covered for them, even then Lilly Arc wasn't happy about them interfering on the docks, imagine what the reaction would be here." Nora put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, squeezing softly.

"Besides if anything what have they actually done to stop anything that they set out to do?" Ren said as the door opened and the Judge Captain that Pyrrha met in the market stood there.

"Hello there, I'm Captain Teresa Bergs of the Helvisk Arbites, I'm here to take a statement." Ren perked at up that.

"Actually I think I have a clue that will help you." The Captain, Nora and Pyrrha looked at him in confusion.

"You need to find Edris Allyn."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Sanian watched as the young Reaper sliced through a trio of Beowolves. It had been some time since Ruby had caught up to her before she had left Patch. Ruby Rose was someone who intrigued Sanian a lot; she had seen what she had done on Beacon Tower the night Alexander died.

Whatever power she had seemed to be anathema to the Grimm Wyvern or at least powerful enough to freeze it in a state that it was powerless to defend itself.

The nights following the Battle, Sanian had spent countless hours testing herself against the beast. Ultimately she came to the conclusion while that she could have beat the Wyvern the chance of her walking away only moderately hurt was a low percentage.

Watching the girl over the past few weeks in the Outlands of Anima, she could see that Ruby was indeed a very talented scythe wielder. Almost as good as her uncle, but in that scenario Sanian would have to give it to Qrow based on experience more so than talent.

Her talent coupled with her enthusiasm and willingness to help people, Ruby had a singular drive that she couldn't help but admire. Sanian wouldn't have been surprised if Ruby would become a renowned Huntress within the next decade or so.

Sanian shook her head back to reality as Ruby pulled Crescent Rose out of the chest of a Beowolf. The young Reaper erupted into a cloud of rose petals and gathered next to Sanian, before scattering to reveal the young girl again.

"So how'd I do?" She asked beaming with anticipation, in the beginning days of their trip Sanian had told Ruby that any Grimm they would encounter would only be fought by her. Sanian saw this as a good time to practice and hone her ability especially after her time bedridden after Beacon.

Sanian did however intervene when it was clear that even Ruby couldn't handle the challenge, such as the fight with the Geist earlier that week. At the same time, she did her best to comfort the young girl in facing the hardships of the Outlands. Such as stumbling upon the ruins of Shion village, the young girl was particularly distraught to see the unnecessary end of life.

Sanian was surprised to see the girl could switch to a professional demeanor when they had stumbled upon the mortally wounded Huntsman. Though he ultimately died of her wounds, it served Sanian's purpose to see that besides talent the young girl had the ability to be far more mature than her age indicated.

"You did alright, you were a little slow in dealing with the Ursa Majors, you strike fast and are agile but you lack stopping power. The Beowolves you did good on, matched them in speed, agility and strength however I noticed that if it wasn't for your speed to move out of the way you would have easily been bogged down due to a lack of situational awareness. It's fine if you can move faster than your opponent but if you're always reacting you'll never get the upper hand on Alpha Grimm or other more sentient opponents." Ruby frowned a little.

"You mean Daemons?" Sanian nodded, and looked toward the sky in thought.

"And much more." Ruby seemed to understand the basic of what Sanian was trying to tell her and nodded.

"I understand." Sanian patted Ruby on the shoulder as she walked past her towards the east. The sun was starting to dip a little.

"Let's get a move on; we're only a day's travel from Higanbana." Sanian said as she reached behind a tree and pulled out their packs." As they started walking Ruby couldn't help but let her mind wander. While she enjoyed getting tutored by Sanian she always seemed to be doing some sort of introspection that Ruby wasn't aware of.

"Sanian?" Ruby asked.

"Yes?"

"What are you thinking about?" Sanian didn't say anything at first, simply walking ahead with Ruby behind her. Ruby looked down; she probably didn't want to talk about that sort of thing with her.

"There are a lot of things that I think about Ruby." Ruby snapped her head up with a smile and quickened her pace to match Sanian's.

"Like what?" Ruby asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well like logistical matters such as supplies and troop deployment for the Sisterhood." Ruby rolled her eyes a little at that. Sanian chuckled and Ruby looked in surprise, how did she know that she rolled her eyes?

"I know it sounds tedious, sometimes it feels like why even bother hiring a staff to help organize this stuff with the amount of paperwork I have to go through. Though I suppose it is a little fun making my subordinates scurry in panic whenever I drop them a new assignment. I know Arabella loves doing that since she's pretty much no longer in active field duty having to take care of the administrative and logistical aspect essentially full time." Ruby giggled a little at hearing that.

"What's Jaune's mom like?" She could see Sanian throw a brief glance out of the corner of her eye at her.

"In the short time that I've known her I can say she's a kind, caring woman who's incredibly fierce both on and off the battlefield when it's needed but can also apply a delicate touch if the moment calls for it. She's a dedicated woman to both as the founder of the Sisterhood and a member of the High Council. However she's also a very devoted mother, when she and Alexander finally decided to have children she all but abdicated her position as the leader of the Sisterhood. This is why I ended up taking care of so much administrative duty for her until such time in which things calm down a little enough that I can train a replacement." Ruby nodded as she absorbed that for a few moments.

"I also think about Brin." Ruby looked at Sanian again she was looking ahead.

"How did you two meet?" She asked seeing a small smile creep up on her face.

"Well I was really just a student at the time and he was a soldier, there was fighting going on in the city and surrounding areas. We interacted quite a bit during that time; he ended up getting left behind by his unit due to a mandatory evacuation issued by the Theatre General; however his unit was tasked with gathering a special item from a mountain residency. So we decided with a few other fellow soldiers who were wounded to join up with them. We ultimately got close and I think if I had asked he would have found a way to leave the service but I knew he had a duty that he needed to do so I bid my farewell with him when the time came. It wasn't until a long time later that we met again, things happened where I found myself to be in a special situation, once again his unit was tasked to both defend the city and be my Honor Guard. We fought and bled together in that desperate fight, then once again the time came where we had to go our separate ways however this time instead of leaving he stayed by my side. It wasn't until years later that we ended up here." Ruby just blinked at that as they continued walking. It was an interesting story but Ruby could tell that Sanian was avoiding in talking about it in greater detail.

As they set up camp off the side of the main road, Ruby sat in her sleeping bag as Sanian sat in a cross legged position. Ruby had yet to figure out why she was doing that lately, at first she thought it was just meditation, she had seen Ren and Yatsuhashi do that a few times.

However Sanian always seemed to be more tired after the fact, which didn't make any sense. She was just sitting there silent with her eyes closed.

Ruby lay back in her sleeping bag and watched the sky turn dark as the sun disappeared over the horizon. It was peaceful in a sense to watch the stars at night in the Outlands; in Vale it was hard to see that much due to the lights even at late night.

Which she felt was strange, at any moment she could in fact be attacked by the creatures of Grimm. Yet she felt more at peace on the ground there then she had been in her home on Patch.

Was there something wrong with her? Was she becoming more obsessed with the thrill of the fight then enjoying the benefits of winning, in a sense maybe she and Yang both were the same in that regard.

Thinking of her sister brought a flicker of sadness; she was distraught to see Yang fallen so far. She was always the landmark of happiness and stability in her life. Even when her mom had died and their dad had fallen in a deep depression Yang became the mother of the household for her.

Ruby yawned, her eyes tearing up, it had been a long day and she was tired. She needed to get as much sleep as she could for traveling.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Sehra sat aboard a Bullhead feeling pressure hold her down as the Bullhead slowed down, after a few moments the impact of the craft's landing gears jerked the Bullhead to a stop. The ebbing whine of engines cycling off could be heard.

She unhooked her harness and stood up on one leg, her right leg was still bandaged from taking the blade from the Night Lord on Amboss. So for the time being she was forced to use a pair of crutches. One of the flight crew members opened the side hatch then looked towards her, pointing at the leg.

"It's cool, I've got it." The helmed face of the crew member simply nodded, the pilots appeared at the hatch as well. Sehra managed to get out of the Bullhead without looking like a complete fool, the scent of oil wafted into her nose.

Looking around she could see that she was on a raised metal platform; all around her dozens of Bullheads were parked on it as well. She shouldn't be surprised since landing at one of the largest forts on the southern border of Arcadia it was bound to be crowded.

Dozens of engineers and flight crews milled around, either chatting or attending to their craft. Sehra looked up and saw to the north a cluster of several stone towers of various heights.

"That must be the Headquarters." Slowly making her way off the platform, Sehra could see that it was in a squared off section with stone walls surrounding it. The walls were fifteen meters high and six meters thick from top to bottom.

Like most Arcadian walls, there was a square tower every two hundred feet; Sehra could see that unlike most civilian or even small military bases that these walls had numerous emplacements on them.

On the ramparts she could see twenty three millimeter point defense platforms, which were used against aerial units though Sehra has seen crews use them as direct fire weapons against infantry as well. There were even a few anti-tank gun platforms. These were similar to autocannons but the fundamental purpose was clearly different.

Autocannons while a widely useful thing were excellent in taking on lightly armored vehicles or infantry. They fired a twenty millimeter rounds either high explosive fragmentary or armor piercing. Even with an extended barrel, the rounds are incapable of achieving the needed power to tackle heavy opponents.

So Arcadia decided to strip the base design down and rebuild it to function with large shells. Thus they came up with an eight point eight centimeter weapon called the M188 Field cannon.

While it fired at much slower rate than an autocannon. The M188 had a higher muzzle velocity with a larger round which meant a higher range and penetrating power against armored opponents. It was also effect against infantry due to its usage of shrapnel or shotgun shells.

"Lieutenant Muril?" A deep voice asked from her left and she turned to regard another lieutenant who saluted crisply.

"That's me." The man nodded.

"I'm Second Lieutenant Crenshaw; I'm here to escort you." Sehra snorted.

"I'll gladly accept that, I wouldn't be surprised if I get lost in this bloody place." The man smiled as he matched stepped with Sehra. For some reason she found that really annoying, sure she was pretty much hopping along with the crutches and he was just being nice, but it didn't mean she couldn't feel annoyed.

"That's sort of reasonable; Clypeus was built for an army, so it's reasonable for newcomers to get lost. The last rotation we had an entire battalion of soldiers from the 31st Shock Infantry bunkered out in the grasslands to the east because they got lost to their billets." Sehra chuckled; the Fortress Clypeus was one of the largest forts on the southern front. It was constructed after the Ruinous servants invaded nearly two centuries ago

The Fortress covered roughly two hundred and fifty square miles; the outer most walls were seven meters tall, lined with heavy stubber emplacements and autocannon platforms. Being the farthest out into the grasslands, defenders would have clean zones of fire on any advancing force long before they reach the walls.

Within the outer lays there were numerous billets and areas for soldiers to stay. It also allowed them to attend the walls as they were the quickest to mobilize in case of an attack.

The next layer of walls was constructed on the slopes of the hills tops, providing additional height in compound the ten meter tall walls. There M188 platforms, autocannon emplacements and Earthshaker cannons to provide additional firepower.

Past those walls the hill tops were mostly hallowed out for bunkers and underground complexes to store armored vehicles. In addition food, medical, ammunition, spare parts, and fuel were stored there as sieges have lasted weeks before help could arrive.

The last wall was constructed even further up as they were constructed at the base of the mountain chain that was north of the fortress. Here were the landing platforms and housing of civilians, families, high ranking officers, pilots, naval personnel, Arcadian agents, guests, the Sisterhood, the Legion, and even the Ancients.

Sehra and Crenshaw finally made it to the base of the main complex. Sehra felt sweaty drip down the back of her neck as she craned her head up to look at the construction. There was even more ramparts on it, with even more emplacements scattered around it.

In front of them were two fully armored Sisters who stood like statues on either side of a large wooden double door. Their faces were obscured by the black and white helmets; Sehra could see they were also armed with a gladius blade and a bolt pistol.

"Well, let's get going." Sehra said and Crenshaw laughed nervously, Sehra turned to look at him confused.

"See, the thing I've yet to tell you is this." Crenshaw said as he stepped forward, the two sisters didn't make a single move as the two doors opened up. Immediately Sehra could hear the bustle of movement and chatter going on inside.

However what she really took notice was the sign that indicated that the main elevators were closed. Sehra shot a withering glare at Crenshaw, who once again laughed nervously.

"There's a secondary elevator that we can take however they're still on the fourth story, which we'll have to take stairs to reach." Sehra felt her eye twitched as she watched the perfectly fit men and woman walking the steps with ease.

"Fuck my life."

* * *

 **Twenty Minutes Later…**

Sehra took a deep breath as she leaned against the elevator wall; it had been an arduous climb to the point that she thought what would happen if she ignored the summons.

"So you know why he wants me here?" Crenshaw shook his head.

"I don't know Lieutenant, that's far above my pay grade." Sehra snorted.

"Ain't it all?" The man simply shrugged.

There was a ding and the doors opened to a stone corridor, Crenshaw motioned with his hand allowing Sehra to go first. She simply hobbled down the single way; it wouldn't be hard to get lost in here. Within a few moments realized how cool the air felt.

Taking a deep breath, she realized that she could detect something in the air. It was a faint scent; it reminded her of oil and vanilla. It was a strange combination but a welcome relief to the smell of oil and sweet from the outside.

After navigating the corridor for a little while, Sehra finally came upon an open doorway. The room was massive, at least sixty by sixty feet with what looked to be a clear glass window that showed the landscape. Though there wasn't much to look at besides the black and grey walls with those that reside inside.

Sitting at a remarkably large wooden desk was someone that Sehra didn't recognize. He was an older man with thinning brown hair who wore a long black trench coat. He was looking out the window as if he saw something she couldn't.

"Hello there, Lieutenant Sehra Muril." Sehra looked in the corner of her eye at Crenshaw but he wasn't there.

"Ah don't mind Crenshaw's disappearance, I asked him to give a leave until I say so. In fact, no one will be disruptive unless I ask for them or something urgent happens." Sehra felt her right hand clench tightly on the crutch as he spoke up.

"If you grip that crutch any tighter, you'll break it." Sehra narrowed her eyes.

"Who are you?" The man turned and Sehra could see that his face was mauled either by a claw or blade. However something was off, for a second his eyes seemed to switch colors from blue to brown, she wasn't sure.

"Who I am is irrelevant, however I would like to ask you a few questions, seeing as you're from the same the Imperium just as many of the people who made and make up Arcadia are in fact. Even I originate from there." Sehra narrowed her eyes.

"Then that's not a special reason to call me here, I already filed a report of the battle in Amboss." The man waved a hand in front of his face dismissively.

"No, I've already looked them over, what I'm looking at is something on a more personal basis." He pulled out a sheet of paper and walked towards Sehra. Once in arms reach he extended his arm out with the paper and she took it. It was her and Qrow walking together in Vale, the photo was dated about two months ago.

"I don't see the relevancy of my personal relationships have to do with Military Matters." Again the man shook his head and Sehra felt the urge to punch him.

"It's not necessarily that which has our interests, it's his affiliation as the right hand of the late Headmaster Ozpin." Sehra wasn't sure what she could say, Qrow wasn't a very informative person about what he does for Ozpin other than vague basics. She never really tried to push the issue hoping instead that he would simply tell her when he's ready.

"So you're probably going to say that you don't know anything, that he never really told you anything, that's fine I would have been surprised if he did tell you that." The man walked back to the desk and pulled out two chairs. He walked back over and set one down next to her while the other was opposite.

"Please seat, I imagine walking with crutches can be tiresome." Sehra didn't say anything as she sat down, the man sitting across from her.

"So, let me ask you this Lieutenant, how much are you willing to sacrifice for Arcadia?"

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

"Look, I'll see what I can do but I can't make any promises. However if there isn't any information for me to relay to you, leave him alone." The man raised his hands.

"Fair enough Lieutenant, we're not trying to hurt anyone. With that said, if we're both being candid here, if it looks like you're not actually trying you will be deemed a traitor and punished appropriately." The man simply as he stood up, straightening his coat.

"Now if you excuse me there seems to be an incident that occurred yesterday in the Northern Regions, in some town called Helvisk that needs to be looked at."

* * *

 **Last Night…**

Edris Allyn could tell his time was up; it had been hours since he had last see or talked to any of the other members outside.

He looked around him; he stood on a walkway in a dimly lighted warehouse in the eastern section of Helvisk. When he had saw Ren at the market earlier he knew things were about to take a turn for the worse. If Pyrrha and her friends defeated Alicia's team then it would only be a matter of time till the Judges were bearing down on him.

Looking down at the ground floor of the walkway stood a solitary figure. He wasn't shrouded like the others instead, standing bolding out in the open with bandages wrapped around his arms, torso and head. With ragged grey combat trousers and boots, Edris always thought he looked silly, if he dies today, he'll still believe that.

"The captain goes down with the ship, huh?" Edris murmured aloud as he looked down at his hands, he was holding a bolt pistol.

He was able to track a number of materials on the black market for the explosives, however being the only truly untrained combatant. Edris figured he'd just take one of the most powerful handheld firearms he could find.

"Death is not an end young Edris, just the start of a new journey." The figure below he said, Edris snorted.

"Yea okay but what happened to your plan?" He didn't say anything, Edris sighed before catching a distinct sound in the distance, engines, lots of them. That mean the Judges were probably closing the net around them, he wouldn't be surprised if there were Judges surrounding them already.

"Just as planned." The figured said below, and Edris looked puzzled as several cylindrical shape objects were thrown through the warehouse windows. Edris raised his arms as they exploded with a bright flash and loud bang.

The doors to the warehouse exploded inward as a dozen Judges armed with the standard issue Judge shotgun, the Arbites Pattern Four combat shotgun. It was an eighteen inch long barreled semi-automatic shotgun with a pistol grip with a collapsible stock.

In addition to the Pattern Four the Judges were also armed with the Agripinaa Carbine, a cut down version of the standard Agripinaa used by the Army.

The main difference was the shorter barrel, which allowed for better handling in tight corridors that urban environments had. However this came at the cost of accuracy and effectiveness at long ranges.

Edris blinked as he rubbed at his eyes that must have been a stun grenade. Looking up everything was distorted, and he felt nauseous but he could still barely make out the white armored forms of the Judges. Yelling he raised his hand, aiming the bolt pistol at the Judges, however three immediately turn, aiming their carbines and fired.

As he felt the first impacts rip into his body, Edris Allyn smiled. He felt his legs give out from underneath him, his vision constricted and breathing was difficult. The world slowly faded into black for Edris Allyn, whose smile never left his face.

"Arbites! On the ground now!" The lead officer yelled, his voice slightly muffled by the helmet. The figure standing in the center didn't move nor had he reacted to the stun grenades and gunfire.

"On the ground now!" The Judge yelled as the others started to fan out on either side of him. Soon forming a semi-circle with their weapons pointed at the figure.

What happened was something no one was prepared for.

Outside the warehouse, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora and Clementine stood next to one of the Arbites armored cars. It had been a few moments since they last heard any gunfire in the warehouse, yet none of the Judges had called an all-clear signal.

"Something isn't right." Pyrrha said as she gripped the handle of her kopis blade, Nora and Ren had their hands near their weapons. Though despite resting, Pyrrha knew that out of the three of them she was the only one in best shape to fight.

After Ren told how them how he had seen Edris talking to one of the attackers, the Judges had immediately started their work in tracing him down. After breaking into his alleged apartment, they found multiple notes and journals that indicated a high level of involvement.

Inventory, letters from suppliers, and varies amounts of journals of him talking about laying waste to the nonbelievers. Pyrrha was intrigued by that last bit, religion was a common thing anymore in the Four Kingdoms and she was surprised to see that it apparently had some presence in Arcadia. She had remembered the old man who had given her a jade necklace saying a religious phrase as well.

There was an increase of activity amongst the Judges surrounding them, looking around Pyrrha could see that they were training their weapons on the warehouse entrance. She looked at Clementine and her friends.

"Clementine I think you should get out of here." She looked at Pyrrha, concern evident on her face but nodded anyway, Pyrrha looked at Ren and Nora.

"Go with her please." Nora looked astounded at Pyrrha as did Ren.

"What?! What about you?" Pyrrha shook her head.

"I'm going to stay here." Ren stepped forward.

"I think what Nora's trying to say is, don't do something dumb Pyrrha, if we're leaving so are you." Pyrrha shook her head.

"I just want to see what's happening after that I'll come find you, don't worry I won't do anything dumb." Pyrrha could see in their eyes what they were thinking about, the fateful night where she had almost died at Beacon. In a sense she could understand the fear they were experiencing of her decision.

"Please. Trust me; I will come back to you guys." Nora and Ren exchanged looks before nodding reluctantly. Pyrrha watched as they ran off following Clementine to their jeep.

"You know kid; you probably should have gone with them." Pyrrha turned to the speaker and was met with a helmed Judge. However she could tell despite the muffled acoustic of the helmet that it was the Judge Captain Bergs.

"Maybe but I don't plan on sticking around long." The Captain simply shook her head as an explosion rocked the area. Pyrrha crouched down as the warehouse dissolved into a pyre of blue flames. Pyrrha had never seen something like that outside a science experiment. However she knew that in this case it was more likely going to fall in the supernatural.

A figure came walking out of it, completely unscathed, Pyrrha pulled out the kopis blade. However her instincts were telling her that it would be of no use in this fight. The figure raised its arms to the sky as a Bullhead came over. Its engines screaming as the pilots kept it stationary in the sky, flood lights on the underside shining down on the figure.

"Quod imperator est unus tantum, nihil sine ipso sumus, pereat quicumque errat corpus portabit quod eventus." A booming voice spoke both in and out of Pyrrha's mind, she felt nauseous. A cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck as a Judged yelled for the order to fire.

In a blur of movement the figure disappeared, Pyrrha blinked as they appeared in front of a trio of Judges in front of her. The figure lashed out with a fist, she could see that its body was wrapped in singed bandages. What she definitely didn't see happening was the bandaged fist breaking into the helmed head of the Judge.

The other two Judges stepped back, leveling shotguns at the figure and fired. The figure jumped up as the blast hit the corpse of the falling Judge, blasting chunks of armor and flesh.

Falling quickly down the figure lashed out with another fist, impacting the chest of the Judge on its right, Pyrrha could see that it felt a sizeable dent in the chest plate. Jumping backwards, the figure spun around with a kicking that slammed into the right arm of the third Judge. Pyrrha could hear the crack from where she stood.

The Judge screamed as he dropped his shotgun, gripping his right arm as it hung in an abnormal angle. A fist from the stranger cracked down on the top of the helmed head, breaking through it silencing him. Pyrrha watched in disgust at the sight of the individual who had their arm buried elbow deep into the Judge's body.

Judges immediately started to react to the stranger's presence, as Pyrrha backed away. A part of her wanted to go in and stop whoever this was but she couldn't take a step forward. Looking down at her hands she noticed something, they were shaking. Was this fear?

Gunfire ripped through the air, Pyrrha snapped her head up to see them spark off the back of the stranger. Looking closer she could see that the bandages were damaged but the skin underneath was grey like metal.

The stranger turned and waved a hand at a dozen Judges who were firing their rifles or pumping shotgun shells. Within moments the gunfire died off and Pyrrha turned to look at the Judges frantically tearing at their helmets, screaming in pain. Soon they all started to fall over, blood oozing out from their helmet ports.

"Girl you need to leave now!" A rough hand grabbed Pyrrha's arm and she was turned around to stare face to face with the helmed head of Captain Bergs. She was holding a rifle in her other hand, dozens of Judges were flooding the area.

"GO!" She yelled at Pyrrha, pulling her roughly aside, and closing in on the stranger. Pyrrha did as she was told, however after forty feet; she stopped next to an armored car and turned around. She saw two more Bullheads pass over the air.

The screams of people dying could still be heard and Pyrrha could see the figure swirling through the Judges. Each strike of the stranger's hand or foot shattering armor and body, while others who weren't getting hit were falling to the ground grasping at their helmets as if trying to breath.

One of the Bullheads lowered itself to roughly a hundred feet and Pyrrha could see two Judges armed with what looked to be rifles aiming it at the stranger. She watched them fire before snapping her head back to see the stranger staggering under the hits.

The stranger roared wordlessly in rage and Pyrrha watched as lightning dance up and down their arms. Turning around, she could see more lightning sparking from their eyes as looked up and extended their arms at the Bullhead.

Lightning arced out striking the aircraft; Pyrrha could see the heated lines of contact as the lightning tore into the craft. Within moments one of the wing engines exploded, the craft started to spiral out of control. She watched as the two Judges who had fired on the stranger were flung at incredible speed out of the aircraft.

Pyrrha ducked behind the armored car as the figure swung their arms around. The arc of lightning followed, cutting heated lines of melted metal through shipping containers, the ground, buildings, armored cars and even Judges were ripped apart when hit. Pyrrha stood up slowly, looking at the vehicle she could see molten metal dripping off the side of the car.

The lightning bolt as cut right through the armored car, looking opposite she saw a concrete wall with a three foot wide diameter impact sight. It was red hot with chucks of burning concrete fell to the ground. She needed to get out of there fast, crouching on the other side of the hood she peaked over to see the figure still shooting lightning from their arms.

Shaking her head she turned around and started running the direction Nora, Ren and Clementine had gone earlier. Following the route as best she could Pyrrha came sprinting back to the main road where Nora and Ren were hanging out on the hood of the jeep while Clementine was in the driver seat.

The street was empty; on either side were rows and rows of warehouses. The Judges had cleared any civilian in a nearby area while having Judges shut down all the roads leading to the warehouse district.

"Get in the car! We've gotta get out of here!" Pyrrha yelled as she closed in, Nora and Ren hopped off the jeep, bewilderment obvious on their faces.

"What were those explosions?" Ren asked as Nora looked quizzically at Pyrrha.

"Whoa Pyrrha hold on, you look like you're running from Goodwitch after she caught you napping." Nora said one hand rubbing her chin, Ren rolled his eyes.

"Nora, you're the only one who does that." Nora looked up at her companion in indignation.

"Well it's not my fault she always made it so boring." Pyrrha shook her head vigorously.

"Enough, we need to leave. Now." The force in Pyrrha's tone stopped the two from their banter; they could feel that something was wrong. As they got in the jeep, Clementine started the engine and looked at Pyrrha.

"What's going on Pyrrha, what happened at the warehouse?" Clementine got her answer when another building further down the road from them exploded outward onto the street. Clementine shifted to reverse and hit the gas pedal.

"What's going on!?" Nora yelled, as Ren pulled out StormFlower, lowering his window he leaned out the side with both weapons trained ahead of them. Pyrrha felt her heart drop as the stranger came running out onto the street, the fire of the destroyed warehouse making the figure into a silhouette.

"Get us out of here!" Pyrrha yelled, in the corner of her eyes see could see the lightning charging on the stranger's arms.

"Bail!" Pyrrha screamed, as she pulled out a knife and swiftly cut Clementine's seatbelt with one hand and started pulling her out towards her. Nora and Ren busted out their respective doors as Pyrrha concentrated on her door with her semblance. The door popped off with Pyrrha and Clementine following after as a bolt of lightning struck the car windshield.

Almost instantly the car exploded as the lightning struck the spare gasoline that was stored on the back. Pyrrha rolled onto Clementine to shield her, as concussive blast pressed them both down hard onto the pavement. Heat pricked Pyrrha's skin as she finally rolled off, Clementine was gasping as she struggled to stand up.

"What?! They can shoot lightning! That's so cool!" Nora called out from the either side the burning ruin of the jeep, Pyrrha pulled out the kopis blade and looked down the street. The figure was still standing there, before breaking out into a run.

"Get ready!" Pyrrha yelled as she ran forward in front of the burning jeep, Nora took up a spot on her left while Ren on her right.

"Whoever this is, they're fast and strong so be on your toes." Pyrrha said as the running figured disappeared only to appear half a dozen feet away, sprinting at them.

Nora ran forward and slammed Magnhild downwards; the stranger twisted to the side and kicked her left side. The hammer wielder was propelled a dozen feet away by the force before skidding across the ground till she hit a wall of a building.

Pyrrha charged him as Ren jumped to the side and started to fire. The Dust rounds sparked off the stranger but they covered their face anyways as Pyrrha closed in. Thrusting the kopis blade forward, she expected for the blade tip to puncture the stranger's sternum.

However the stranger was no longer there, they had dropped down and Pyrrha flipped to her right as they kicked where her leg would have been. The moment her feet touched the ground the stranger was already swinging a fist at her face. Pyrrha gritted her teeth as she leaned back then flip away again, each time the stranger was still inches from hitting her.

Pyrrha could tell she was running out of room to back away from, as she desperately tried avoiding the hits. As much as her aura was still up in comparison to her friends, she had no doubt that it wouldn't last long against this opponent. Her back slammed into something unyielding, it was a wall.

She ducked as a fist came crashing in, burrowing itself in the wall, Pyrrha rolled away, slashing the thigh of the stranger. As she got to her feet, she was surprised to see that there was blood on the edge of the blade.

Looking over her shoulder she could see the stranger staring at their leg as if in surprise as well. What was even stranger was how to blade seemed to be humming, Pyrrha shook her head as the stranger rounded on her. However panic gripped her heart as she saw electricity dance across the stranger's arms.

Ren came charging in shielding Pyrrha as the stranger extended their arms. Pyrrha screamed wordlessly in horror but nothing happened to them. Looking over Ren's shoulder, she saw instead the stranger kneeling on the ground.

Looking lower, she saw that the stranger's right arm had been cut off at the wrist. Standing between them was three women; all were clad in golden armor.

They wore nothing on their heads; all three were bald except for a single top knot. Each one had the same identical suit of armor. They wore breasts plates, which connect to a plackart with pauldrons on their shoulders, each pauldron had eagle that gazed out from them.

Running down their arms they all had a rerebrace that connected to a couter and then a vambrace. Though unlike other suits of armor Pyrrha has seen employed by Arcadia, they all wore simple leather gloves with studs running across the knuckles.

Going down their torso they wore segmented fauld plates that ran down the middle. From there they wore segmented cuisses that ran down to poleyns on their knees. Below that a simple greave went down to their leather boots.

From their shoulders they also all wore long purple caps that ended with a tattered hem. Along with a similar purple cloth that hung down to their knees from the fauld. In each woman's hands was a greatsword.

Each sword was at least fifty five inches in blade length while the total length was sixty two inches. The width of the blade was nearly four inches across with the hand bronze colored handed cross hand guard being eight inches. The hand was wrapped in worn leather that ended with a bronze colored pommel.

The lead warrior stepped to the side of the stranger who seemed to be writhing on the ground in pain. More so than people thought would be the case even though they had chopped a hand off. The woman raised her sword and in one swift movement lopped off the stranger's head.

Pyrrha and Ren sat amazed at the three women who promptly turned to the two of them. Pyrrha could see each woman was showed not a single hint of emotion in their eyes. Though half of their faces from the nose down were covered by a half face metal mask of some kind.

None of them said a single word as they walked away. Ren scrambled up and quickly sprinted towards Nora who was groaning on the ground.

Pyrrha struggled to stand up, her body shook from adrenaline and fear. Fear, once again she had to welcome the uncomfortable feeling it brought. Someone tapped her shoulder and she turned to see another armored woman standing at arm's length away. She held up in both hands a familiar sword and sheath, it was Crocea Mors.

"Wait, it was still in the jeep?!" Pyrrha looked over at jeep it was a charred shadow of itself, with a fire still burning on the inside. Pyrrha looked at the warrior's arm to see that it was blackened, most likely by heat. Pyrrha held out both of her hands, the warrior gently placed Crocea Mors into hers, despite being in a burning vehicle the sheath was barely heated.

"Thank you." Pyrrha said, the warrior bowing her head slightly in acknowledgement, before stepping past her to the corpse. That was when Pyrrha noticed that she had some sort of long tank on her back that had a hose connected to a long thin barrel with a large nozzle at the end. Pyrrha saw that a little light from a burner was at the end of the barrel.

Large gout of flame shot out engulfing the corpse, however the woman did not let up from the trigger of the flamethrower until a few good minutes. Pyrrha unfortunately recognized the smell of cooking meat and started to gag realizing that it was the body.

Walking away she joined up with Ren and Clementine who stood over a now conscious Nora.

"Man that dude hits hard." She groaned holding her side; Ren offered his hand down to her which she took. He helped her up and offered her arm to lean against.

"Who are those people?" Ren asked as he watched half a dozen armored women stand around, two were equipped with bolt weapons which the three Beacon students were familiar enough with to recognize. While the third one was the woman who had retrieved Crocea Mors for Pyrrha and the last three all carried the large greatswords. The last one was standing by the burnt corpse, the flamethrower still aimed in the general direction of the corpse.

"I'll explain later, we've got to get a new ride to the Capital." Clementine said and the four of them started to limp down the road.

* * *

 **A few Days later…**

Arabella stood in a dimly lighted room, illuminated by a single light in the ceiling in the center. There was a large circular table situated under it. Seated at the table were eight of the most powerful individuals of Arcadia.

Though there was a ninth seat but the occupant was now dead. Thinking of Alexander brought pain to Arabella's heart. They had been married for years and to think that she wasn't there when her beloved had died pained her.

Not only was there that but her only son also critically injured at that time. It was for the first time in a very long time, had Arabella felt truly helpless in her life. However with that helplessness came angry and determination as she had been given the duty of Stewardess in the light of Alexander's death.

Though she wouldn't be Stewardess for long, the purpose of today's meeting was to discuss a certain portion of Alexander's belongings prior before his death.

So the Council had assembled, everyone present except for Saul, he had been called away due to the dire situation developing in the southern regions of Sanus.

Representing the Legion was a dour looking man with lines creasing his face and thin white hair. He sat in a reinforced seat, for like Saul he also was known to wear his armor almost all the time.

However his armor was painted dull grey with pauldrons painted in yellow and black strips. The twin crests of the Arcs etched on the center of his breastplate.

Next to him was an aged man, with scars lining the left side of his face, this left his mouth in a permanent scowl. With thinning white hair, it was easy to think he was some sort of retired general or soldier but in fact the man was the current Lord Commander of the Arcadian Army.

Seated to his right was a younger woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She had short black hair, though looks would be deceiving, anyone could see that in her hazel brown eyes were that of a aged leader who does what's necessary to both win and survive. Hence that is why she's the current High Admiral of the Arcadian Navy.

To her right sat a nondescript man, he had brown hair with brown eyes, and a rather bland face. However Arabella knew that it was nothing but a disguise, no one save Alexander has ever seen the true face of the man who leads the Arcadian Intelligence Agency.

Nor does anyone but Alexander actually know his real name, though he would often leave hints or give snide comments about memory being the key. They mostly just refer to him as Director, in accordance to his role.

To his right sat another large figure dressed in a red rob, the sound of clicking and whirring of machinery could be heard coming from the Chief Magos of the Mechanicus Order. Arabella could see the spider mechanical fingers of his hands dancing across the surface of a data slate. No doubt both informing and giving orders to his colleagues.

To the right of the Chief Magos was an older woman, even in the low light she could see a stern but tired visage of the High Marshal of the Arbites. Her greying hair and lined eyes spoke of someone older with decades of time than her actual age of late thirties. Arabella felt a small pity for the woman, so dedicated to her job but the inevitable burn of her work would either lead her into early retirement or a grave.

To her right sat the fresh faced youth of the Civitas Administrator. Out of everyone at the table the Administrator was a young woman with blond hair, blue eyes, and the fresh face vibrancy of youth.

She was voted into that position by her talent despite being young of age. She had shown considerable aptitude in handling various projects while using less a sizeable amount less of her funds but still achieving just as good or better results from that effort.

Seated to her right was another woman, grey hair reached her shoulders, she kept her eyes closed. She looked to be napping in her chair but Arabella knew that wasn't the case, her rabbit ears were constantly twitching.

The woman didn't get to be the Sentinel Commander for being an imperceptive slouch. She was suited in her glossy black segmented armor of the Sentinels however the black plates of her pauldrons and chest plate had red trimming.

Finally was her, representing both the Sisterhood and the appointed Stewardess in place of Alexander. Some people may disagree on her being in that spot, citing that it would create conflicts of interest or that she would have too much power.

Arabella understood their concerns and was planning on abdicating from her position as the Abbess of the Sisterhood.

"I don't see why this meeting was so important; the situation in the southern regions of Sanus is deteriorating fast." The Centurion spoke first, his voice deep and hoarse, the subtle tone of frustration evident in it.

"I agree, with Arcadia coming into the spotlight of the Four Kingdoms, we've been swamped with various trade negotiations, deals, request, and a myriad of political chatter from the Four Kingdoms. The SDC alone have been hounding us for permission to send surveyors into our lands to look for new Dust deposits or to set up exclusive trade deals, in Dust, financing, and technology. Then there's the bloody Valean Envoys who are having a fit after the Battle of Beacon and Vale." The Administrator spoke next her voice thick with exasperation, Arabella sighed.

"I understand but we're here to today to read a few specific messages that High Lord Alexander left or kept hidden that were only to be seen upon his death." Arabella said simply, this brought the Administrator's mouth to a close with an audible clap. Even the Centurion seemed to be satisfied with that response. Arabella picked up the data slate before her, turning the screen on, and sending everyone present a copy of Alexander's last message.

Everyone picked up their data slates and started to read through the documents. Within moments of reading it, Arabella couldn't help but feel a smile creep onto her face.

"He can't be serious, he's far too young." The Administrator spoke up once more.

"Be that as it may, it's our Lord's wish." The Lord Commander spoke up next, the High Admiral clicked her tongue.

"I'll have to agree with my counterpart, orders are orders, according to the dating of this document it seemed that the choice was made a long time ago."

"But circumstances can change; he could have picked a new heir after formulating this document." The Administrator said, setting the data slate onto the table.

"Even then, we know what we have to do next." The Lord Commander said, as he ran a hand over his thinning hair.

"I agree; the objective is clear, why debate about it." The Centurion spoke next, the Administrator rolled her eyes, a groan escaping her lips.

"Why shouldn't we discuss this, we're putting our Nation into the hands of someone who, no offense, is most likely not capable of handling this sort of responsibility." She turned to the Chief Magos.

"What says the Mechanicum?" There was a click and whir of machines.

"I find myself leaning towards the Administrators point, while we must respect the wish of High Lord Alexander, the choice he's picked doesn't seem very suited to lead efficiently." The Chief Magos said his voice distorted slightly with a machine quality by an inbuilt vox unit.

"If I may speak, I think we're taking the wording of this document a little too serious." The High Marshal spoke, the room turned to regard the woman.

"Explain yourself." The Administrator said impatience etched across her face.

"Well, I do think we should let Alexander's pick be the heir, but as you pointed out, the proper training hasn't been given to him, nor does it seem like now is the time to give him this burden. So why not let him continue to be trained or prepared for the position for the time being until he is ready." The Lord Commander hummed at that, and looked towards the Centurion.

"I can see the reasoning behind that, we can think of something to test him with, after his recovery of course." The Centurion picked up what his point was.

"I'll pass word to the Legate; he was given the responsibility of overseeing his training for the time being." Everyone seemed to nod or agree at some point, the room silent until a soft cough drew everyone's attention to the Director.

"If we've resolved that issue, I would like to draw our attention to two pressing matters, one of those I believe that our comrades in the Legion are intent on dealing with." He said simply, his voice monotone; as if he was talking about a mundane task he's dealt with every day for years.

"Aye, what do have to tell us where the 8th Legion scum have scurried off to hide?" The High Admiral spoke, malice soaking her voice.

"There isn't much, by the time my operatives were on scene, the few tracks we were able to gather suggested that they're heading south east." The Centurion snorted.

"Which doesn't tell us much, the Night Lords have always been renowned for disappearing and leading enemy forces either on a ghost chase or a setting up an ambush for their pursuing enemies, picking them off slowly and methodical. Like a chirurgeon demonstrating for students on the various parts of the human anatomy." The Centurion up at the single light illuminating the room, closing his eyes, as the others watched him.

"Well I can start sweeping the southeastern regions, it's imperative that we start getting a lead on them or who knows what might happen, what if they somehow get in touch with the White Fang or whoever is pulling their strings." The Admiral said again as it became clear that the Centurion wasn't going to say anything else.

"No, the 8th Legion wouldn't work with them unless they have true unifying cause, their abhorrence to those that consort with the Ruinous Powers is known, some may partake but the chances are that they'll go into hiding until they figure out what's happened to them." Arabella spoke up.

"That being said, the 8th Legion represent a threat that can't be ignored, Centurion, tell the Legate to mobilize for war, the Army can barely handle this developing situation without deploying large amounts of assets to be used in one area but they will practically scream their arrival every time they move so you need to put the 8th Legion in their coffins, I'll put you in touch with the Sisterhood to bolster your numbers as you see fit, High Admiral, coordinate with the Legion and see what assets they may need to help them from the Navy, the same with you Lord Commander. High Marshal look out for any signs of gruesome deaths, things such as skinning, torture, or the victim being left as a message. Director, I don't need to tell you how to do your job but can you divert some of your operatives to start searching the southeastern regions of Sanus as well as looking for the White Fang. Chief Magos, uhhhhh, not sure really what to tell you, other than notify us if there's anything you need help with, the same with you Administrator, though you can route any messages that the Four Kingdoms send your way to my staff, I'll handle the slippery tongue bastards." The High Marshal leaned forward with her hands clasped together.

"What about the incident at Helvisk?" Arabella frowned but nodded at the Director.

"When I got there, what the Maidens gathered on the ground was that some rouge Psyker who specialized in Biomancy, who tried organizing a revolt by instilling fear and hatred of Arcadia by committing a number of murders and starting a bombing campaign. The Arbites were tipped off on a key member coincidentally by certain foreign Students. The Judges responded in accordance to the information and surrounded the warehouse that housed this traitor however no one expected it to be really the operation of a Psyker who murdered almost every Judge there and nearly killed the students until the Maidens of the Silent Sisterhood stepped in. The details are still being complied; I'll have my office send copies to everyone here once we're done investigating." The director looked back at Arabella who nodded and stood up.

"Alright then, as Stewardess of Arcadia, I hereby dismiss this council meeting."

* * *

 **Hello Ladies and Gentleman!**

 **Sorry I haven't posted anything new in a while, I had some things I needed to deal with. But thankfully or hopefully done with that bullshit.**

 **And what's this? Sanian watching Ruby, wonder how that's gonna turn out when they reach a certain town.**

 **Anyways I'm not sure how I feel about the fight in the market square, part of me feels justified that the three of them barely made it through. In the end I stuck with it for now.**

 **As for the warehouse scene I've introduced a new element of 40k into the RWBY verse, as well as a interesting item that Pyrrha possesses.**

 **Also excuse me for the broke Latin in there, I was never really good at it.**

 **Plus a brownie points for anyone who can recognize who or what the Director is. The same for the "Maidens" that saved Pyrrha and the gang.**

 **Anyways one last announcement, I've written a new trial story, called A Dance of Death, it's a more Modern story but with my own added taste of something I think is needed in the RWBY Fanfiction.**

 **Anyways check it out and leave your thoughts or review of it, and don't forget to leave your thoughts or review on this latest chapter.**

 ***Nonchalantly whistles as I put the story back into the Crossover section for Warhammer 40k***

 **Until Next time!**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

War.

That's all he's known for years, which seemed to stretch over an infinite amount of time. Or at least infinite for a regular mortal, that is.

For a warrior of the Throne, he had countless lift times under his belt. Or so he thought, lately something had plagued him more and more whenever he meditated in his austere chambers. The feeling that the life he was living wasn't real. If it was real then it wasn't truly his.

Soon enough it felt as if he wasn't truly there at all, as if he was watching through the eyes of someone else. Who was this person? He didn't know nor was he able to identify the marks and colors of his brothers in arms around him.

More often than not he would see them talking but wouldn't know what the words they were saying. Ultimately he did figure what was going on, they were heading on a mission but not one they would ever return back from.

He always remembered dying, whether it was to a warrior wielding a giant chain axe in blood colored armor or an alien creature with serrated claws for appendages. Yet each time he would find himself back at the same point before leaving on those missions. He knew he wasn't insane, or at least he hoped he wasn't.

It wasn't until he died a fourth time to black creatures with white bone armor and red markings that he remembered a name.

"Jaune Arc?" He felt his mouth move and the world went black. He couldn't feel or see if he still had a body.

"It's time." A new voice said, echoing in the darkness around him.

"Who's there!?" He called out but the voice didn't answer him, instead showing him an image. It was a large two story house in a woodland area. He could see eight faceless women standing at the front with a large faceless man. Something about the sight looked so familiar but the more he thought about it the less he was able to think.

"Who are you?" The voice asked, he looked for the source but couldn't find it.

"I'm a Warrior for the Throne of Mankind, I stand at the edge of the Abyss to protect the light of Man." The image in front of him disappeared; the voice spoke again, louder this time.

"I'll ask you again. Who. Are. You?" He felt his eye twitch at the booming voice.

"I am the Bulwark of Man against the encroaching Darkness of the Despoiler."

"Wrong." The voice said flatly. This time a new image formed in front of him, it was a large set of buildings with a green forest on one side and a sea of red on the other. It felt so familiar but he ignored the feeling that it left in his chest.

"Who are you?" The voice asked again.

"I am the Light in the Dark, keeping those that are unseen from cutting the wick of the innocent." The image zoomed closer on the buildings. There he could see shadows in the form of people walking about; however what truly caught his eye were the unique figures.

He saw a figure in a red cloak up being helped up. In the back he could see a green figure that gave him an impression of a serene forest.

Next to that figure was a shorter figure of a pink figure, though arcs of electricity danced across the surface. It reminded him of a lightning storm.

Behind that figure was a shining yellow gold incandescent light that reminded him of a fiery sun. In contrast next to it was another figure; black with a dark mist that bled off the surface could be seen.

There was a third figure there that was blue resembling an ice sculpture. Behind them was a taller figure of purple that exuded control; it was followed by an equally tall green figure that seemed to be vibrating as they moved. Jaune couldn't help but feel exhausted looking at the green figure.

However what really caught his eye was two figures in the very back. The taller of the two was strange, seemingly to shift between green, silver, and white.

The second figure sparked something in him; he wasn't sure what it was but he enjoyed the feeling. The figure was red with a black outline, the scene disappeared into black and he felt remorse as the bodiless voice asked again.

"Who are you?" This time he hesitated.

"I-I don't know." The black disappeared; he was now on a balcony at night. In the distance a lone high tower shone with green light with a canvas of tiny stars in the background of night.

In front of him a beautiful young woman in a red dress stood staring out into the night. Once more a feeling burned his chest, a wave of emotions washed over him. Joy, sadness, nostalgia, and a fourth one, one that he had a feeling he should know but for the life of him he couldn't think of it.

She turned to face towards him; he could see both sadness and joy in her eyes. Her eyes, they were vivid green and once again he got the feeling that he should know her.

The scene changed once more, this time in a ruined courtyard with a large structure to his left. However this time it was far different then the last scenes, he was holding someone. It was the girl from before they were pressed together, and he realized that they were kissing.

Feeling flooded into him, there was warmth from her body as it pressed against his. Passion in the way their lips locked with each other, he could smell the cinnamon in her hair due to the close proximity. He didn't want to let go but he could feel that there was a tension in the air, one of regret.

"I'm sorry." A voice whispered in his ear and next thing he knew was that he was trapped in a metal locker. She locked eyes with him, remorse evident in them as she typed something into the digital padlock of the locker.

"Wait!" He shouted but she stepped back, a sad smile on her face as a rumble took over the locker. He could feel the pressure pushing down on him, a single name popped into his mind.

"PYRRHA!" Pain settled in his heart as he was once more engulfed in darkness. Still the voice from before was silent, was he trapped in this world of darkness to witness events for eternity. However he could see a figure slowly appearing in front of him.

It was her; it was the girl who had stolen his heart.

"Pyrrha?" He asked but she soon faded away. A new scene taking place, one that he brought a lump to his throat.

Pyrrha knelt on the ground, next to him. They were at the edge of what appeared to be a ruined tower top; looking behind him he could see fires raging on the ground below. The pops, cracks and booms of fighting could be heard.

Looking up he could see a city burning. Flashes of light could be seen as fighting took place in the city. He turned around to see a black hair woman clad in a red outfit fought a giant warrior in blemished golden armor holding a glaive.

The warrior was losing, he could see that. Whoever this woman was, she was an adept fighter but it wasn't that which was giving her the edge. She was using a power that was unnatural, he couldn't put his finger on it but something told him that it wasn't her true power but one she stole.

The woman struck the warrior engulfing them in a blast and he watched the man slammed into the wall. The smoke cleared and he could see his body was ruined by the blast yet he still lived. He needed to save that man, he wasn't sure why but something compelled him to stand up and run to him.

He heard yelling behind him but it was too indistinct for him to make out what it said. Halfway to the fallen warrior something struck him. Before he knew it he was on the ground, Pyrrha was by his side yelling something. As his vision faded, he felt his heart twist as he saw her tearful face calling out to him.

"Jaune please wake up!" Everything faded to black again and he was once more stuck in oblivion. Why was this happening to him? Was he dead and this some sort of purgatory for him to dwell in forever to watch his life over and over again?

"Who are you?" The voice from before asked.

"I don't know."

"Who are you?" The voice asked again and he felt rage start to well up. However it stopped cold as he remembered something, Pyrrha had called him Jaune. Was that his name?

"Jaune…" He whispered and a flood of images flashed before his mind of scenes he had seen before, though now they were distinctly of those he knew. He remembers his sisters, his mom, his father, Ren, Nora, Ruby, Goodwitch, Oobleck, Yang, Blake, the Ice Princess, Ozpin and of course Pyrrha.

He also remembered the Vytal Festival. He remembered Pyrrha accidentally killing Penny, Vale and Beacon getting invaded by Daemons, Grimm and the White Fang. He also remembered watching Ozpin have Pyrrha enter some strange machine so she could take the aura of some woman.

Then Pyrrha's fight against Cinder and his father coming to save her in which he died protecting them. He remembered getting injured when his father was wounded and he tried to save him. He remembered Pyrrha's tearful face above him as he lost consciousness.

"Who are you?" The voice asked again, the anger from before erupted in him.

"I'm Jaune Arc, son of Alexander and Arabella Arc, and you can go fuck yourself!" He yelled into the black. A part of him realized that it was a really dumb move but he was tired of these questions, surprisingly enough voice laughed.

"You're ready." Then everything went quiet. He was still in the darkness however something could be heard. He wasn't sure what it was but it was getting louder progressively. Soon he could hear a steady beep like a heart monitor. He could feel things again, the coarse fabric of a bed sheet and mattress under it.

Smell came next, the smell of soap and disinfectant flooded his sense. He tried opening his eyes next but they didn't seem to respond, after a few moments he was able to slowly lift his eyelids and a blinding light shone in his face. Making him instinctively close them again, he sighed, he needed to get this over with.

Once more he slowly opened his eyes again but this time raised his arm to shield his eyes from being exposed to too much light.

"Fuck, where am I?" He muttered as his eyes started to adjust to the ceiling light.

"You're in a medical wing of Blackshield Tower in the Citadel, young Lord." A deep voice spoke from his left. Jaune turned his head to see a hulking armored figure standing in the corner of the room. He wore blue grey armor, strange talismans and the bleached skulls of wolves adorned the giant's armor.

"Who are you?" He asked and the giant gave a deep chuckle.

"Well lad, I'm just a simple warrior for Arcadia." This time Jaune chuckled or at least tried, his body ached.

"You may find your strength has vacated your body for the time being, so rest easy young one." Jaune gritted his teeth as he placed his hands down and pushed as hard as he could. His body screamed for him to stop, and sweat formed on his forehead at the exertion.

After what seemed like forever he finally made it to a sitting position. Though, he did feel as if he had just gone through one of Pyrrha's rigorous training sessions back at Beacon.

"So you've got some fight in you huh? That's good, you'll need it." The giant said, Jaune didn't turn his head but he could practically hear the smile on his face.

"My father?" He asked, despite knowing the answer. He had the small hope that maybe what he saw before passing out wasn't real. There was a noticeable silence after his question.

"So he did die."

"Aye, that he did lad but he knew the risks. We all do." Jaune smiled bitterly.

"There's a difference between calculated and blind risk." The whine of power armor indicated the giant was moving. The cold feeling of an armored gauntlet rested on Jaune's back, the large hand easily reaching each shoulder blade.

"That's something a commander must always look for and anticipate. However sometimes things happen that no one can plan for." Jaune was mildly surprised to hear such words coming from a Legionnaire.

"Why are you here?" Jaune asked as he finally was able to move his head to look in the direction of the warrior. He had an aged scarred face with runic tattoos on the left side of his face.

"I was to assist you in the final stages of the procedure." Jaune just looked befuddled at the giant. At that moment a Hospitaller walked in.

"Ah. Lord Arc, you're awake. I'll alert the attending Doctor after I do a preliminary checkup." She said Jaune watched as she checked the machines that were hooked up to Jaune's torso and answered any question he asked. As she left, Jaune looked at the giant once more.

"So you mentioned something about procedure, what procedure?" Giant looked at him, silent for a few moments, flinty grey eyes locked with Jaune's gaze.

"Upon your injury in the Battle of Beacon it was decided according to the wishes of your late father that you would begin undergoing operations to implant six of the nineteen phases of initiation. Though you won't go through the full thing due to your age and the precedent of Aura, there's speculation of how your Aura will react with the new transplants." Jaune tilted his head a little.

"I'm going to assume by this phases of initiation you speak of, I've been given those organs that a Legionnaire would have?" The giant nodded.

"Yes, though you won't be in the same league as us, you'll be stronger and tougher more so than you were even with aura but hard work and determination will be your true strength. Do not overestimate yourself; doing so will lead you to an early death." Jaune nodded slowly.

"Well that's enough for now lad; I'll send a runner for you when you've been given a clean bill of health so we can begin." Jaune tilted his head in confusion again.

"Begin what?" The giant turned around, a wide smile on his face, revealing larger than normal canines.

"Training."

* * *

 **Five Days Later…**

Jaune woke in the early morning, he couldn't sleep. He had more than a month of his life missing due to being bed ridden. First was because of his injury followed by a series of surgeries to give him these new implants, so sleep was hard to come by. As if it was his body's way of coping for all that time in bed.

He stood up from the bed in the room he was given, it was a relatively furbished room. There was a bed, a small table with chairs and a little kitchenette with a mirror to the side. However that was pretty much it, there were no windows along with the room was perpetually chilled with the walls, floor and ceiling being made out of stone.

He walked over to the small sink and turned on the faucet running cold water before using both of his hands to cup cool water and splashes his face with it. Standing up straight he looked in the mirror.

He was still pale white but in the center of his chest was a large circular scar where he had been hit by the shard that woman had thrown at him. Roughly six inches in diameter a flat pink Hypertrophic scar was in the middle of his sternum.

It was an ugly thing and he vaguely remembered Mina once telling him as a young kid that women loves scars.

"I wonder how Pyrrha would react if she saw this?" He mused to himself. There was a knock at his door.

"Come in!" He called out as he turned back to his bed to fish through a small basket that was given to him to store all his clothes. He pulled out a white shirt and began pulling it on his head when the door opened.

"I'm surprised you're awake." A new feminine voice remarked Jaune turned to see a dark skinned woman wearing the black fatigues of a soldier.

"Morning to you as well Lieutenant Cressida, I haven't been up for long but I will say that I couldn't get much sleep after yesterday." The woman frowned a little.

"You should do your best to rest as often as you can, improper rest can lead to training accidents and in the field it can get someone killed." She lectured him, Jaune simply nodded in understanding as he followed her to the training room.

After his speedy recovery the second day after he had woken up. He was led by the warrior that he had met upon waking up to his quarters and new training area. Apparently he had been instructed to give him additional training for the time being to see where he was.

The first drill was to run twenty kilometers in an Arcadian Combat Uniform. Which included a fully load tactical vest on top of the hard shell breastplate, shoulder, and forearm guards.

Along with that he had shin guards and a standard issue utility belt, which held a compass, spare magazines for both the Agripinaa rifle and the sidearm. It also held a knife, water canteen, basic medical field kit, two fragmentation grenades, and one smoke grenade.

In the rucksack were an entrenching tool, vacuum sealed ration packs, a spare water canteen, another medical kit and a rifle cleaning kit. Lastly, there was the enclosed helmet that all Arcadian Infantry wore in the field. Though it wasn't so bad, the helmet did its best to keep a steady supply of cool breathable air.

The total weight for a typical soldier in their full gear on a typical combat mission was around sixty five pounds. For a heavy weapon specialist this load is increased to eighty five pounds due to the heavy stubber, ammunition and spare barrels needed in case of overheating.

Jaune didn't envy those poor souls. After the run, he was then told to strip down and start doing a series of calisthenics and free weight exercises.

One reason given was that physical training stimulates the implants to see how they're adjusting to him. The second reason being that it doubled both as physical therapy and training since Jaune never had formal training before Beacon.

He also had a number of instructors and supervisors for his training. Lieutenant Cressida was in charge of taking care of any needs or requests outside of training. His physical training was overseen by a Major from the infamous 13th Division of the 1st Army.

The 13th Division was stationed in the far Northwest of Acadia territory called Irkalla. Fighting in a perpetual wintery border area against what appeared to be an area in which the boundary of their world and the Immaterium was thinner than normal.

There have been a number of bloody battles in Arcadia's history, but none have ever been as frequent and violent as what the 13th Division faced.

Even the Grimm are an issue, they often fight denizens of the Immaterium that manage to find their way into their world. Over the decades however they've collectively become a stronger sort than the average Grimm found in other places of Remnant.

There was even a Legion Watch Station there with a permanent garrison of Legionnaires with supporting forces of the Sisterhood and even the Silent Sisters. All in all Jaune knew it was a harsh place that did its best to beat down anyone in its reach.

Aside from setting up his physical training, the Major also recounted numerous battles that he participated in or plucked from the records. However they weren't just stories for him to listen.

The Major often stopped what he was saying and asked Jaune what would be the possible outcome of a course of action that was taken. Or at the end of the story would ask him to give an assessment of what he thought about the battle, pointing out both the good and bad.

Afterwards he'd seen the very familiar face of Anna Vermillion. The Sentinel who was assigned to guard him at Beacon especially during the Vytal Festival, obviously she had felt a great deal of remorse considering what happened to him. Jaune however did his best to make it clear that he in no way blamed her for anything that happened that night.

After clearing that out of the way, it turned out she had petitioned Saul about his training. She had asked him to be the one that would ultimately help him in his sword play.

Though he wouldn't lie, while Anna was an adept swordswoman, much better than him, he stilled missed Pyrrha's lessons. However that may be a biased thought considering how he felt about her or maybe it's because they use blunted blades. So while they won't kill or seriously hurt each other unless they're really trying but the blade strikes still really hurt.

Though Anna has yet to experience that on the same level as him, he has been able to land a few hits and even won a few rounds. However for every one hit he landed she landed the other nine, the same going for matches.

Afterwards, he would do another set of physical training with the Major until he was told to stop. More often than not he had burnt the better part of a day doing these things. Though he wasn't done, he then went to see a Hospitaller who would run him through a serious of checkups to see how both he and his implants were handling.

Lastly he went to go see the Rune Priest Rolf, Jaune wasn't so familiar with the internal structure of the Legion so he wasn't sure what Rolf was in there. Be that as it may he still did what he was told to do. So far all Rolf had him do was to sit and meditate.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do so really he just spent that time thinking about his friends. He missed them but he wasn't able to send them a message that he was okay. Though he did hear that they were in Arcadia and traveling to the Capital at the moment, which is a plus side of things.

After those sessions he was returned to his quarters at around nine at night and expected to wake up at six.

As Jaune finally made it to the training area, he saw the Major standing with his arms crossed and emotionless face as usual. His gear was in the center of the room, Lieutenant Cressida turned around to attend to her other duties.

"You've got three minutes to put on that gear and start running!" The Major barked and Jaune sprinted forward to begin another day of training.

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

Katherine Arc stood on the lip of a crater looking down at the shattered bodies of the Ruinous Servants. She had arrived at the frontlines a day earlier to assist the Army in any way she could.

Almost like magic several skirmishes broke out along the defensive lines established by the forward operating bases.

The opening strikes were done by Ruinous warriors that managed to find themselves here. As far as she knew none of them ever will learn where they were and who they were fighting.

Afterwards, the creatures of Grimm in the vicinity were drawn to the fighting. Several Goliaths had actually managed to destroy a pair of tank squadrons. Sadly the counter thrust was denied to eliminate the Goliaths due to Beowolves and Ursa Majors taking the field.

At the end of the day there was several dozen dead, with another ten dozen wounded, along with eight armored vehicles and six tanks destroyed. From what she gathered from the local Division forces, it was a good victory.

She didn't understand that sentimentality. People had gotten hurt or worse, yet if anything the soldiers were happy with the way things turned out.

Then again, what did she know? She was young and didn't spend weeks and months fighting in the snowy landscape of the Northwestern territories.

She looked up to the sky, it was a grey day. The wind was slowly starting to pick up and word around the camps was that new snowfall was going to start soon.

Not many people seemed to be happy about that. From what she gathered snowfall for this region could be anywhere from getting a light coating of snow to a full blown blizzard that lasts for days at a time. Combat in those situations were rare but when they happened death and injury rocketed up to three times the normal amounts.

"Ma'am?" A new voice called out from behind her and she turned to regard the captain of the company she had joined during the skirmish.

"What is it, Captain?" She asked the pointed his thumb over his shoulder back towards the main lines of the Arcadia Army.

"There was a runner of Field Command, wanted me to give you this message." He held up a data slate, Katherine reached out and took hold of it. Turning on the screen she could see that it really was only meant for her since it required both a retinal scan and a thumb print. Holding the device up level with her eye, she saw the flash of a tiny camera at the top directed at her eye.

Blinking, she looked down and held her thumb against a small pad at the bottom. The device changed screen and a message was displayed on the screen.

Reading through it she was greeted with both pleasant and unpleasant news.

* * *

 **A few days Later…**

Jaune sat in his quarters once more; he had just finished his daily training sessions when Lieutenant Cressida had stopped by. Apparently she had news for him about his friends; they had apparently run into trouble in a town called Helvisk in the Northern Regions.

Jaune had immediately found a map of the latest territories of Arcadia to look for the town. He was giddy to know that they were a less than a week's travel to the Capital. Though apparently Saul had decided to give them a tour of what Arcadia looked like. So really it could be more time till he saw his friends again but still the thought was nice.

He stood up from the small table and walked over to the sink to grab a fresh glass of water. In the corner of his eye he looked at the wall mounted mirror and started to inspect himself. He looked to be the same height though that had already increased back at Beacon when Pyrrha had unlocked his Aura. So he had shot up from six feet and an inch to a solid six feet, six inches.

Sure he wasn't as tall as guys like Yatsuhashi, Saul, or even his dad. It was still a significant growth, not to mention the increase of muscle mass. Before Beacon he had been scrawny and when he had his Aura unlocked he started to fill out a little more.

Now however he had a well-toned muscular body, Jaune remember how he had wanted to have a body like this before he faked his way into Beacon. Now he had it and he had to admit he looked almost like a new person but despite all this he was a little sad. Once again he gained something great without actually having done anything to achieve it.

He wanted to take pride in it but a part of him said that it would be wrong. Pyrrha had a well tone athletic body; she worked hard getting it however. He chided himself; Pyrrha would also reprimand him at the moment since she hated his self-doubt and high criticism of himself.

However he felt that it was important to have that within oneself. Being too complacent and happy with everything can lead to stagnation if one felt too satisfied with themselves. This could also lead to someone overestimating their ability in a fight, which could get someone hurt or worse.

There was another knock at the door to his quarters.

"Come in!" He called out and a large man stepped in, it was Rolf. Though instead of his armor, he was wearing a simple grey robe, with the Arc Emblem embroidered into the right breast.

"Hello Rolf." Jaune said as he stepped away from the mirror. Rolf inclined his head in greetings, Jaune did the same.

"How are you today Jaune?" Rolf asked, Jaune grinned.

"Tired and have a hankering for cheesecake. You know the usual." Rolf just shook his head and looked around the room.

"Well I'm going to cut to the chase then." Rolf said and Jaune's face straightened out.

"You're training is, in a sense, going to be cut short." Jaune blinked in surprise.

"What?" Rolf continued.

"It's been decided that you will a part of a Joint Operation in the Irkalla Theatre. Upon completion a review will be given based upon your performance in the field." Jaune wasn't sure what to really make of it. Jaune raised his hand slightly to indicate he wanted to say something.

"Wait; if my training is being cut short wouldn't it make it clear that I'm not ready?" Rolf nodded in acknowledgement.

"True but certain things have come to light and it's been decided by the Council that you will take part in this to see what you've learned both with us, even though it's only been for a short time, and at Beacon." Jaune looked confused but nodded nonetheless.

"You will depart within a month's time however Legatus Saul has requested to put you through a test of his own in three weeks." Jaune narrowed his eyes, something about that didn't bode well.

"What sort of test?" Rolf didn't look at him but Jaune could practically hear the smile on the warrior's face.

"A Combat Test."

"Against who?" Rolf turned around, a gleeful smile revealing long canines.

"Me."

"Fuck."

* * *

 **Four Days Later…**

Pyrrha glanced up from inspecting Crocea Mors, Nora and Ren were seated across from her asleep. The steady hum of the Bullhead's engine was a constant presence for the last four hours that she had gotten used to it.

After the whole incident in Helvisk, Clementine had to spend a few days both filing a report on what they had seen and requesting funds to purchase a new vehicle. Afterward finally getting the clearance for more funds they set off on preparing their trip again.

However things changed later on when they were on the way out of Helvisk. An Arcadian runner had found them before they had set off to Capital to inform them that a Bullhead was sent to retrieve them.

Looking to her right, Clementine was strapped in as well, though she was looking at her data pad. Apparently the woman spent every second she could doing her job, Pyrrha had asked earlier for her to explain what is was she did.

She regretted that, Clementine had gone into a tirade of talking about the financial, construction material, fuel, financing and other military logistics expenditure or yield. While Pyrrha was attentive as any other student at Beacon, doing her best to study and learn the material. None of it save maybe Oobleck was as bad as what Clementine was spewing out.

She turned her head forward and rested it against the hull of the Bullhead. They had been given the free ride after they were once again debriefed after the incident in Helvisk where, a terrorist plot had been foiled.

Was it really a terrorist plot? Pyrrha wasn't sure if it was though she couldn't think of any reason why Edris and those people would do that in the first place.

While she wasn't a native of Arcadia and had only been there for a short time. She would easily admit that it seemed like a wonderful place to live.

She looked down at the jade necklace that was tied around her neck. She hadn't seen everything though nor has she experienced the horrors that were described to her by the old man who had given her this piece of jewelry.

The scene of the carnage of the bombed out market square flashed in Pyrrha's mind followed quickly by another flash of her killing two of the attackers. She looked down at the kopis blade it was tucked between the seats.

There was something about that sword that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Ever since they're encounter with that strange but powerful man that nearly killed them in the warehouse district the sword had been giving Pyrrha a strange feeling.

"Pyrrha?" Clementine's voice broke into her senses and she turned to look at the Faunus lieutenant.

"We're almost there." She said with a small smile, Pyrrha nodded and a smile of her own appeared on her face. She was one of the only outsiders, in who knows how long, that's going to see the capital of Arcadia. It was one of those things that people would talk about to their kids like a fairy tale.

At the thought of fairy tales Pyrrha couldn't help but remember the last time she heard of a fairy tale not being a fairy tale.

The world had change; in a sense it was still changing. Things were happening that Pyrrha still felt was way over her head. After the waking up from the fight on Beacon Tower, she wondered what it would be like if she hadn't started down this path.

She always chided herself in that, going that way would just leave her in a spiraling mess that she didn't think she'd have to strength to climb out.

Though she had already started that path, she was having a hard time sleeping these days and it was only getting worse. She needed to see Jaune; she needed to hear his boyish laugh and the carefree smile of his face.

The Bullhead shuddered slightly and Pyrrha could feel the force of deceleration press down on her body. Across from her Nora and Ren woke up from their own slumber, having slept through most of the flight.

"Mmm, where are we?" Nora said through a yawn as she rubbed one eye.

"We're about to land in the Capital." Clementine said as she put away her data slate.

"Does that mean we're going to see Jaune now?" Ren asked, turning his attention to Clementine who just shrugged.

"I honestly don't know, once we're there I most likely will be dismissed to return to my post back in Clove." The three teens focused their attention on the Faunus lieutenant.

"You mean you're leaving us?" Pyrrha asked incredulously, she honestly hadn't thought that Clementine would leave them at some point during their stay in Arcadia.

"Did you really think I'd stay all this time?" Clementine looked at the three teens; she smiled warmly and reached out to put a hand on Pyrrha's right shoulder.

"I would have loved to do that but more often than not we don't get what we want. Besides, aside from nearly dying I have not enjoyed myself in months as much as I did spending time with you three over these last week. So thank you." Pyrrha patted Clementine's hand, the Bullhead jostled around again as it settled its mass on solid ground.

A crew member, who had been sitting quietly at the far end of the seats, stood up and swung open one of the side doors. The two pilots exited from the cockpit and stood at parade rest by the front as Nora, Ren, Pyrrha and Clementine gathered their belongings.

Most of it was in fact things that they had to buy in Helvisk since their belongings had been in the jeep when it was destroyed. Only a few things had made it out for everyone, Ren and Nora both still had their clothes that they had been wearing that night.

Pyrrha on the other hand had lost the rest of Jaune's clothes in the fire. So now she had nothing but Crocea Mors and the very clothes on her back of him.

As Pyrrha stepped out of the Bullhead she was greeted first by a cold wind that bore into her very core. Shivering, she rubbed one arm in a vain effort to stay warm as she took in the surroundings around her.

They were on a high stone platform; a large bridge was to their left that connected to a large stone built tower that was at least forty feet high. It was only then as she looked at the horizon that she realized that they were much higher.

In front of them was none other than Arabella Arc, dressed in a business suit with two black armored Sentinels at her side. Behind her they could see a city stretching out for miles; Arabella raised her arms wide in a gesture for embrace.

"Welcome to the Capital."

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Pyrrha stood in a well furbished room looking out a large glass window to the city below. Arabella had escorted them into the tower only to walk up three flights of stairs that led to a door. Once inside she had introduced them their new home for the time being.

She then started to talk about the Citadel and Capital in general giving them a summary of what they were like. Pyrrha was amazed at some of the things she said, the heart of Arcadia was indeed a marvelous place that she doubt any Kingdom could boast.

At least in the sheer scale of it; the Citadel was a Concentric Fortress which was the inner most section of the Arcadian Capital spread over nearly twenty squares miles on top of a series of hills. At the outer most of the Citadel, were walls eighteen meters high and seven meters thick.

Every few hundred feet were towers stretching up another ten meters high, for additional firepower. From there the walls were only connected by bridges to a second curtain wall that was built on raised ground that cleared their line of sight over the first wall.

This was also too steep to walk or climb with ease in case someone tried to circumnavigate the bridges. This second curtain wall would allow for additional direct and indirect fire support for the first wall while maintaining a clear line of defense.

The second curtain walls were connected to various Keeps, which were choke points in the case of an invader breaking through. These Keeps were large square towers with large caliber cannons on top of their own battlements.

These cannons were capable of taking out main battle tanks in a single shot. They also had clear angles to engage airborne targets and ground base targets until they were within a few hundred feet of the first wall.

If the Keeps were taken, the invaders would then be able to make it to the ground to see the third layer of walls and towers across courtyards, gardens, and free standing towers. Those walls were connected to the main Keeps and Great Hall which was where the heart of the governing body lay.

This final layer was really in a sense one giant complex structure of a multiple Keeps combined around a long rectangle structure that was the Great Hall.

In the second layer however there were free standing towers or Keeps such as the Blackshield Tower, the Hall of Echoes, Euthyphro Hall and the Sacrarium of the Sisterhood.

Pyrrha wasn't sure what the first three were but she figured that the last one Arabella mentioned was the Headquarters for the Sisterhood.

Going outside the Citadel there was an industrial section of the city, dozens of factories and workshops that went round the clock forging new armor, ammunition, and vehicle parts. However it wasn't only military needs that were made in the Industrial section of the city. There were also home appliances, cars along with other consumer products being made there.

After that there was another high curtain wall with battlements and towers separating it with the next section.

The next section was the metropolitan heart of the city. Business, schools, banks, hospitals, and a myriad of other structures were there for the civilian population. Then another curtain wall followed by the last portion of the city was also the most populated; the residential section.

The largest section of the Capital, both in population and area covered. The Capital held nearly four million people. While Kingdoms like Vale, Mistral and Atlas also were near or larger in population they couldn't support the claim that they were growing at the same rate as Arcadia.

Nor could they support the claim that they could populate and protect the amount of land and people that were present in Arcadia. While the Four Kingdoms were collectively a larger portion of Remnant's population they were more or less trapped.

One of the biggest problems aside from Grimm that the Four Kingdoms were facing was the lack of usable land. It was one of the reasons that led to Vale and Atlas trying to expand with Mountain Glenn.

One of the primary goals was to ease the potential burden of an ever growing population by taking a substantial amount of the current population and setting them elsewhere.

In a sadly ironic way, they did solve that problem. The city wasn't strong enough to defend itself properly and was overrun, leading to the deaths of thousands of people when the walls fell and thousands more died when they got trapped underground. Along with hundreds of Huntsmen and Huntresses who died doing their duty.

Arcadia didn't have that problem. Their military strength was able to not only capture but hold the land long enough for multiple fortresses and towns to develop to the point of a moderate ability to defend themselves.

Which once again brought the question to Pyrrha's mind which is why Arcadia wasn't able to help the Four Kingdoms?

However she remembered Jaune stating that the Arcadia Army was around three million strong. It seemed like a large force at the time to Pyrrha. Now after hearing and seeing some of the things they faced, such as battles like the Crimson Gulch or Daemons. She wasn't all that surprised to see that they weren't able to help the Four Kingdoms.

The military presence in the Capital was also a strong; Arabella had said that there were over two dozen Divisions billeted in the city from almost every army deployed. Along with a large sum of the Sisterhood, some group called the Silent Sisters. The Legion also had a presence though a rather small one since they were more or less independent of the normal military structure of Arcadia.

The sum total of the fighting strength of the Army units was more or less three quarters of a million men and women. Along with them there was the Sisterhood, which had a presence of three thousand warriors in the city.

After that there were the Arbites which Pyrrha could only assume that there were thousands as well in order to keep a city of this size from turning into a nightmare.

Turning to the Sentinels and Legion, Pyrrha was far less sure. She had a vague idea that the Sentinels were only large enough to properly hold and defend the Citadel. Aside from that there didn't seem to be enough to make a decent force like the others.

As for the Legion, Pyrrha had no idea what to make of them. Ren said he saw warriors like Saul during the attack of Beacon but not in a large quantity. From what he said, it seemed like that was probably roughly a hundred warriors in the battle. However if they were anything like Saul or Alexander they would be powerful warriors.

She sighed, that was all she knew of these people. She wished she knew more about them to learn of the people that were led by the Arcs and by extension Jaune.

Speaking of Jaune, she couldn't help but notice the now present sensation of butterflies in her stomach. She wanted to just leave their stateroom and start exploring the Citadel for him but she knew that she would not only get lost but annoy her hosts at the same time. She vowed to ask about him as soon as she sees someone.

"Pyrrha?" A familiar voice asked softly behind her and she turned to see Nora standing with a quizzical look on her face.

"Oh! Hello Nora." She said with a small smile, Nora returned it.

"So, whatcha looking at?" Pyrrha gestured out the window.

"Oh, I was just looking at the Capital." Nora nodded as she stepped side by side with her.

"Yea, it's pretty cool ain't it?" Pyrrha laughed softly.

"Yes it is pretty cool; to think that there was a city this big outside of the Four Kingdoms. It's amazing to see some of the things the Arcs have done." Pyrrha could see Nora humming in agreement as she exaggeratedly stroked her chin.

"Is something a matter?" Pyrrha asked, dreading what might be happening. Nora gave her an impish smile.

"Why Pyrrha! I thought you would never ask!" The orange hair girl slipped her arm around Pyrrha and dragged the red hair champion with her. They stopped in front of main door to their stateroom; Ren was already leaning against the wall. He looked like he wanted to go back to sleep but they both knew that without him, Nora would be a nightmare.

"What's going on?" Pyrrha asked looking towards Ren for a better explanation.

"Nora wants to go find Jaune." Pyrrha looked at the orange hair girl who was now whistling nonchalantly.

"As much as I would like to find him I don't think it would be proper to go wondering around the place without at least telling our hosts what we're doing." Nora waved her hand dismissively.

"We all know why we're really here, to see Jaune obviously. So why wait?"

"Because some of us would be annoyed to have foreigners wandering around the Citadel lost." A new voice said and the three teens turned to regard a familiar albino Sentinel.

"Anna? Where did you come from?" Pyrrha asked surprised at how she was able to come in without them noticing, the girl shrugged her shoulders.

"I've been here the entire time." She said simply and Pyrrha found that hard to believe but rolled with it anyway.

"Ignore what Nora said, she's just antsy to see Jaune." Pyrrha said and Clementine nodded.

"That's fine, I was gonna show you around anyways. That way you don't get lost if you happen to wander around by yourselves." The Sentinel said as she stepped past them, opening the doors. Pyrrha exchanged looks with Ren and Nora before following her.

* * *

 **Fifty Minutes Later…**

The four of them walked through a courtyard, Pyrrha was now certain that if they had left the stateroom with Nora without a guide they would have gotten lost. Anna had showed them how to get to a cafeteria, where hundreds of soldiers or staff members of the Citadel sat and ate.

Then she took them to tour the battlements and get a better look of the surrounding land. Pyrrha hadn't realized how exactly high they were until she noticed a very light coating of snow on the ground and walls.

She had taken them to see the Sisterhood and the Arbites towers though she didn't take them to the Hall of Echoes. Mainly because she said that they didn't like to be disturbed even if it was only to look inside.

Now she was taking them to the Blackshield Tower. Pyrrha noticed that she seemed uncharacteristically giddy to show them this particular tower.

As they entered the Blackshield Tower they saw a large stone statue in the middle of a large room. It was massive, at least eight meters tall and three meters thick. As Pyrrha took a second to look it over, she gasped as she realized that it was Alexander.

The statue had been made with him wearing his armor, holding his glaive in his right hand and his plumed helmet in the crook of his left arm. Pyrrha could see his stern face carved exquisitely and for a second a small part of her mind expected the statue to greet them.

"Whoa." Nora said Ren nodding along with her as the three stood in the anteroom. In the corner of her eye, Pyrrha could see that it wasn't the only statue there.

There were ten other statues as well, Pyrrha recognized Saul immediately but she didn't know any of the others. All of them wore similar kinds of armor judging from the craftsmanship of the statues it was clear that each was different in some way.

Some of it was the differences were in the armor, some looked to have different pieces in various places. While one had a totally different suit of armor that made the warrior look massive in an almost larger-than-life fashion.

"Who are they?" Pyrrha asked as she turned to look at Anna, who looked up at the statues.

"Those are Primus Pilus and the Pilus Priors of the Legion, including the Legatus Legionis Saul. The Legion is broken like this. First there are ten warrior strong squads or contubernium led by a Decanus which is essentially a non-commissioned officer. Ten Contubernium form a Centuria of a hundred men led by a Centurion, which you can think of as a Captain. From there six Centuria form one Cohort, the first Centurion of the Cohort is also a Pilus Prior or the Senior Centurion that commands the Cohort. From there that there are ten Cohorts with the first Cohort being the largest as it was an additional two Centuria in the Cohort. The Primus Pilus is also the Senior Centurion that commands the first Cohort." Pyrrha nodded as she absorbed this information, Ren looked at Anna.

"Wait if this Primus Pilus commands the first Cohort what does the Legatus Legionis do?" Anna nodded.

"That's a good question, the Legatus is in charge of leading the entire Legion as a whole and thus it was decided that he wouldn't command a single Cohort or even a full Centuria. Though that doesn't mean he would go into battle alone necessarily. In fact the Legatus has half strength Centuria of Veteran Warriors who answers only to him, essentially his Bodyguards. Along with that, Legatus Saul also has the ability to control traditional Army units instead of just the Cohorts. " Nora snorted a little at that.

"I never thought Saul would need a bodyguard." The four of them continued to walk through the anteroom until they reached the far wall. In front of them was a set of steel double doors which slid apart as they got near them.

"Neither does he but that's the way things are." Anna said as she reached out to a panel that held a few dozen round buttons and clicked one near the bottom. Pyrrha got an uneasy feeling of Déjà vu as she realized they were in an elevator going down.

"Where are we going?" Ren asked Anna simply turned and smiled at them.

"Wait and see my friends." The door opened, before them stood Katherine Arc dressed in a white shirt in black cargo pants with a black open cashmere coat.

Pyrrha once again was struck with the feeling that the older girl was looking down in disdain on her for what happened with Jaune. Her heart felt heavy and she couldn't look the older Arc sister in the eye.

Katherine on the other hand was annoyed to see Pyrrha's timid nature about the past was once again showing.

She didn't hate the girl, at first when she heard what happened it seriously pissed her off, but now when a cooler head was in place she knew that luck wasn't on Jaune and their father's side. So she didn't blame the girl, she might have done a dumb thing but she's inexperienced.

Though in Jaune's case, from what she heard about his time in Beacon and why she's seen at home. The poor boy never had good luck. Maybe his semblance was bad luck?

"Well you're all in time, the session is nearly over." Katherine said gesturing for them to follow her. The five of them headed down a stone corridor, lights were built in the ceiling casting everything in a pale glow.

"Man it's really cold in here." Nora complained as she rubbed her arms, Katherine shrugged.

"Tell me about it, I brought a coat just to wear in here whenever I visit." Ren looked towards the woman.

"Which begs the question, why are you here Katherine?"

"Why wouldn't I be here? The Capital is where the Arcs are living now."

"I think he means, why are you here with us?" Pyrrha chimed in.

"Well we just so happen to have a similar goal, though I'm sure your Sentinel guide here could have answered that question as well." Anna held up her gauntleted hands.

"I think you're doing fine Ms. Arc. Besides I figured after their ordeal in Helvisk, why not give them a pleasant surprise for a change." The three former students exchanged looks with each other.

"I heard about that, tough luck running into rouge Psyker. Those fuckers are hard to put down. Though you're luck he didn't get possessed while you were fighting him." Nora looked confused.

"A rouge what?" Katherine looked over her shoulder at the three of them.

"You don't know what a Psyker is?" The three of them collectively shrugged. Katherine stopped and turned to stare at Anna.

"How come no one informed them of what a Psyker is? They've fought and known about Daemons but not a Psyker?" Anna shrugged.

"I'm sorry Ma'am I wasn't the one that informed them about that sort of thing. I think Legatus Saul, High Lord Alexander and the Young Lord were the only ones that ever told them anything." Katherine nodded slowly as she ran a hand over her hair.

"Alright look, you all understand what the Immaterium or the Warp is right, at least in the basic sense, right?" Nora nodded.

"Something about an alternate dimension that is essentially the collective unconscious of all sapient beings in existence. Where every thought or emotion affects it in some way and entities that were twisted or crazy in some sense were born from them and are now known as Daemons." Katherine looked at the orange hair girl in surprise.

"Pretty much, anyways, a Psyker is someone who has a special connection to the Warp and is able to use their power to draw forth energy from the Warp, bending it to their will to do a specific task. Such as turning their skin as hard as solid steel or shooting lightning out of their bloody fingers. For instance, Rolf, can do some cool stuff like make a wave of concussive force so strong it shatters rocks and rips bodies apart. I've never seen him do it but I heard about it from my mom." Everyone looked at her and she shrugged.

"What? They're drinking buddies." Pyrrha ignored that last part.

"So what's a rogue Psyker?"

"Ah, well the problem with Psykers, is they have the tendency to get possessed or go insane if they're not problem trained or in some cases put down. A powerful Psyker could level a small town or village if they really wanted too or get possessed by a Greater Daemon and summon forth an army of Daemons in the heart of Arcadia where no expects it and proceeded to curb stomp everyone in their path for a while. Though properly trained Psykers have a lower but still possible chance of that happening as for ones like Rolf, I've never heard of something happening to them like that." Katherine just shook her head and turned back around to continue down the hallway. Pyrrha watched the older woman's back, ignoring the chatter going on between Nora and Anna.

After a while Katherine stopped outside a door and turned back towards them. A small smile was on her face, Pyrrha could swear she could the sound of metal clashing with metal.

"Have fun." She said before stepping away and going back the way they came. Pyrrha exchanged looks with Nora and Ren as Anna stepped forward to open the door. Following her, they entered a relatively small room.

On the far side was a table with a platter of finger food along with a jug of water. In the middle were several seats bolted to the floor facing a large window, Pyrrha decided to step towards the window to see what was outside.

She was two people with what looked to be sparring. One appeared to be a Sister while the other was a fully geared Arcadian soldier.

The Sister wielded a two handed longsword while the soldier had a square shield and a one hand longsword.

The Sister looked to be winning as the soldier was constantly backing up, using the shield to take hits, only using the sword to parry and counter with.

The Sister chopped downwards, the soldier raised his shield to block, before lunging forward with his blade. The Sister stepped right, bringing her blade upwards, the soldier turned clockwise, using the momentum to knock the blade aside from striking at her.

The Sister kicked at him, her sabaton foot striking the square shield straight on, sending the soldier stumbling back. Capitalizing on the moment, the Sister stepped forward bringing her longsword down in an overhead swing.

The soldier wasn't done though; as the blow came close he swung his shield to knock it aside. Then thrusting his own blade forward, the Sister brought her blade back to knock the blade down and out of the soldier's hand.

Instead of trying to break contact, the soldier instead used the edge of his shield to smash the Sister's chest. While the blow didn't break the armor, it sent the Sister stumbling back, allowing the soldier the ability to scoop up his sword.

The moment the blade was in hand, the soldier charged the Sister. The Sister dropped into position, with her blade ready. The soldier raised his sword and it looked as if he was going to meet him blade to blade. However Pyrrha got the feeling he was thinking of doing something else.

She was right, only a few feet away, the soldier threw his sword at the Sentinel, who knocked the blade away with ease. Only to get slammed into by the soldier's shield, the two of them went down. The soldier let go of the shield and took the sword arm of the Sister and dropped into an armbar.

The Sister wasn't done, as she let go of her sword due to the armbar, she gripped the edge of the shield with the other and raised it up to slam down on the soldier. The first blow didn't dissuade the soldier, but the Sister quickly put down two more blows.

The third blow struck the soldier's helmet and Pyrrha could see that it was cracked but he didn't release the hold. A whistle blew, the soldier had won and Pyrrha was surprised to see that she was actually clapping.

"So what do you think?" Anna asked as she stood next to her, Nora and Ren joining them.

"I think it was an interesting fight, the Sister capitalized on the soldier's inability to meet him blade to blade in striking but he knew how to use his shield. Which in the end seemed to be what he wanted to use, while he his swordsmanship was okay, his main tool was the shield. It's unconventional; most opponents would assume the sword would be the biggest threat. However a good fighter or warrior will use any item he or she has on him with the same effect." Nora looked over at Pyrrha.

"You used to do that all the time." Pyrrha nodded.

"Distracting the enemy with Miló only for them to get hit by Akoúo, switching from defense to offense and alternating with what tools I use throws people off to what I'm about to do. Miló was already a diverse weapon so people were weary of it but they'd forget that I have more than three weapons in hand." Nora grinned as she looked at Anna.

"That's Pyrrha for you, undefeated in combat class." Anna looked towards Pyrrha a small smile on her face.

"I have an idea, why don't you go spar with him down there." She said, pointing at the soldier who had come back out from a room with a new helmet on. This time only holding a one handed longsword, Pyrrha looked at Anna surprised.

"Really?" She nodded, and gestured to another door in the far corner to their right. Pyrrha walked towards it and it slid open to reveal a staircase going down to the training floor.

The training room was much larger than what she had seen inside the room. It was incredible large rectangle room. She could see multiple sparring pits, weights and even a track that circled around the outer perimeter of the room.

An attendant jogged up to Pyrrha with a one handed longsword.

Pyrrha took it with a smile, thanking the man, who smiled in return before leaving. Pyrrha stepped into the yellow glow of the sparring pit, twirling the blade in one hand to get a feel for the weight of the weapon.

Looking up she could see that the soldier had stopped in his tracks. Pyrrha tilted her head confused at why he was just standing there.

"Hello! My name is Pyrrha Nikos and I'm happy to help you in your training!" Pyrrha said giving her customary smile at greeting people she wasn't sure about. The soldier just shook his head and for some reason she couldn't shake the feeling that he was laughing.

The soldier crouched slightly with his feet spread slightly further than his shoulders with his blade held low and to the side while the other hand was clenched close to the body. Pyrrha dropped into her own stance and the two circled each other.

Pyrrha could see that the soldier was much larger and taller up close. He must have the strength and mass to be a problem to her if she was unlucky, along with speed to keep up judging from the last fight. She smiled motivated at the prospect of fighting an Arcadia soldier.

The soldier made the first move, dashing forward, he thrust his blade forward. Pyrrha knocked the blade up and he dropped low, his right leg sweeping towards her legs. Jumping up, she tucked her legs in and kicked out with both of them, hitting him in the chest.

The soldier rolled back with the hit and got to his feet, Pyrrha twisted in air as she landed on her feet again before dropping into her stance. She ran low and fast towards the soldier poised to strike at his abdomen.

The soldier gave a low sweeping slash with his sword but instead of blocking it, Pyrrha did a front flip over the sword. Bringing her booted heel down towards his head, but instead of striking him, she was surprised to see that he stopped her foot but catching it in his left hand.

Pyrrha grinned as she could see him brought his blade back to strike at her before the blade could reach her she did a back flip. This time the front of her right boot smashed into the underside of the soldier's jaw sending him stumbling back.

Not wanting to give him a chance to recover, Pyrrha pressed in. Slashing downward with the blade but the soldier was able to bring his sword up causing Pyrrha's to slide off and away from him. Twisting her wrist she brought the blade back up under his left arm.

However he was once again able to bring his sword down to fully block it. Pyrrha felt another smile split across her face as the two trade sword blows. While the soldier was never able to press or push against Pyrrha as any attempt to break out from her sword strikes, she simply rolled with him or even jumped over to cut off his line of retreat.

That being said his swordplay was awfully familiar, for some reason as they locked blades it reminded her of a particular night a while back before the Dance. There she would help Jaune train with Crocea Mors on the rooftops at night.

She ducked a horizontal swipe to the head and knocked the legs from underneath the soldier. Before he could sit up Pyrrha stood over him with her training blade poised at his neck. The soldier held his hands up before a slow chuckle echoed out from his helmet.

Pyrrha froze as the soldier reached up and pulled the helmet off to reveal the grinning face of Jaune Arc, his hair was matted with sweat and he was breathing heavily. To Pyrrha he looked as handsome as ever in her eyes. He looked her in the eye and smiled.

"Sup." There was a sound of a door opening and thunderous footsteps behind Pyrrha.

"JAUNE JAUNE!" Nora screamed and joined the two of them. Ren was right behind her and helped Jaune stand up. Only for him to be brought into a crushing bear hug by Nora.

"Nora! You're gonna break me!" Jaune stammered as he struggled in the shorter girl's grip until Ren put his hand on her shoulder. She let go, scratching the back of her head as she chuckled.

"Ren, it's good to see you brother." Jaune said as he extended a hand out for the magenta eye teen to take. Ren shook the hand a rare smile of his own on his face.

"It's good to see you up and about Jaune, we've missed you." Jaune nodded a sheepish smile on his face.

"Yea, I've missed you guys as well." Nora stepped forward eyeing Jaune.

"Something seems off about you Jaune, did you get a haircut?" Jaune smiled and shook his head.

"Why didn't you send a message?" Pyrrha asked, hating to drop the mood but she needed to know. Jaune looked fit and healthier than even when they were all in Beacon. Jaune straightened his face out at the question.

"I only woke up a little while ago and even then I was immediately placed into training." Pyrrha shook her head slightly.

"That doesn't mean you couldn't have sent a message just letting us know you were alright. I've been worried, we all have been, at the possibility that you might not wake up." Jaune stepped forward and raised his hands as if to put them on her shoulders but stopped. Pyrrha couldn't help but feel remorseful at the gesture but that was put aside when he wrapped his arms around her.

She could smell the sweat and leather on his body, the hard feeling of his armor pressing against her. Yet she didn't mind, she could tell that he was sorry for what happened.

"I'm sorry." He said softly in her eye and she finally raised her arms, returning the embrace.

"Get a room you two." Nora scoffed with a smile, the two teens let go as a figure entered the training room.

"Ah, I see you've got some guest." Pyrrha turned to regard a large man in blue grey armor like Saul's, though this man had what looked to be a Beowolf's skull on his right pauldron.

He had a long salt and peppered hair tied back with runic tattoos on the left side of his face while the right side had three long scars running over his eye. Along with a massive dark fur coat trailing behind him, what was even more interesting was the raven perched on his right shoulder.

At the left side of his waist was a single head war axe, though in truth the axe head was probably the size of Akoúo.

Jaune stepped forward and inclined his head slightly. Though the old warrior did not seem amused at the slightest to what he was seeing. Pyrrha could feel a chill go down her back as his icy blue eyes bore into her before switching to Jaune.

"If you've got the time to chit chat, you've got the time to pick up that sword and use it." Jaune nodded his head wordlessly as he went back to pick up the fallen longsword and slip on his helmet. Pyrrha stepped forward and bowed her head slightly.

"We're sorry for causing a disturbance but we were just enthusiastic to see our dear friend and team leader alive and well." The older warrior's face was enigmatic but he nodded his head slightly.

"That is fine but the young lord here needs to train if he wants to have a chance at passing the Legatus Saul's test. So I ask that you do not disturb him tell then, you may watch but are not allowed to communicate and distract my ward." Pyrrha could practically sense Nora bristling at annoyance at that, which she understood as well. To finally be reunited with Jaune, she was now apparently prohibited from talking with him, it irked her a lot. The warrior gestured for them to follow him as he headed towards the stairs they had come down from.

Anna was standing with her arms clasped behind her back at rigid attention as the warrior approached her. He leaned forward and Pyrrha could only assume he was telling her that they were with him for now. The albino Sentinel nodded and walked to a far corner of the training room.

The whine of servos could be heard as the warrior climbed the stairs to the observation room. As soon as they were all in there he turned towards them.

"I'm sorry if I seemed, curt, earlier but I'm simply doing what my duty in training the young Lord. His test comes soon and if he doesn't pass it he will not be able to continue on." Ren looked puzzled and stepped forward to look out the window. Below them Jaune was once again facing the same Sister from before but now she had a shield.

"What sort of test is it that Jaune is expected to face?" The warrior turned to Ren.

"Well lad, he's got a combat test to complete." Ren nodded slowly.

"So who is he facing?" The warrior looked at Ren blankly.

"Me." Pyrrha stepped forward.

"Why you?" The warrior turned to regard her now.

"You would have to ask the Legatus that young one; I'm simply doing what duty dictates."

"What happens after the test?" Ren asked.

"If he passes the test, he will be given a week to prepare for his test by the Stewardess and the High Council." Pyrrha tilted her head a little.

"What do they have in store for him?"

"He's to leave and accompany a Military operation in the Northwest." Ren leaned against the window, crossing his arms, staring down the older warrior.

"What's so important about this Military action?" The warrior took a deep breath before letting it go.

"First of all lad, I don't need to tell you anything that I don't feel like telling you." The warrior said, Pyrrha noticed that the air in the room was starting to get colder. Ren didn't seem to notice as he continued to stare at the warrior.

"Also if you don't fix your bloody tone, I'm going to throw you out that window." Pyrrha gulped as she released a pent up breath, seeing that it clouded in front of her. Nora and Ren caught on but it seemed that Ren wasn't backing down.

"I think it is important to tell us, Jaune is our friend and team leader. We want to know what's going on and since you've told us that we can't talk with him, we have to talk to you for our answers." Nora stepped next to Ren and surprisingly enough put her hand on his. Pyrrha watched as Ren tore his gaze off the warrior to look at her.

In an unspoken conversation, Pyrrha could see Ren visible relax. Turning to face the older warrior he bowed his head.

"I'm sorry, it was wrong of me to try and demand answers from you." The warrior nodded and Pyrrha could feel the temperature start to rise a little.

"Rolf, I'd appreciate it, if you didn't blast my brother's teammates apart." A new voice entered the room and they turned to see Katherine standing there with her arms crossed. The giant bowed his head slightly.

"I'm sorry Ma'am." Katherine smiled.

"It seems you've still got some fire in you, old man." The giant grinned and Pyrrha was surprised to see that he had larger than normal canines, like a wolf.

"You're a Faunus?" She asked Katherine and the warrior turned to her. Katherine gestured with one hand towards the warrior.

"This is Rune Priest Rolf Renouf, one of the Tribuni Angusticlavii to Legatus Legionis Saul. In other words he's a part of the third highest ranking members of the Legion. Think of it like this, he doesn't control a specific Cohort like the Legatus but he helps maintain the Legion and helps the Legatus in any duties he's unable to attend to himself." Katherine gestured to Pyrrha and the others.

"Rolf these are Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, and Pyrrha Nikos. These are Jaune's teammates and closest friend from Beacon Academy." She said pointing to each one respectively, though she lingered on Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha in particular is of fond interest to my brother." The Rune Priest nodded at that, a wolfish smile across his face.

"I had a feeling that was the case. When I entered the training room, I could smell young love in the air." Katherine looked slightly annoyed at that but ignored it ultimately.

"Anyways, you should return to your rooms now, dinner is going to be served soon and I rather not have to look for any of you in case you get lost on your way back." She turned and headed out the room. Pyrrha however turned back around to quickly look at Jaune again before she left. She was rewarded with what she thought to be a delicious sight of Jaune stripping out of the armor.

Pulling a grey shirt that was drenched in sweat off; Pyrrha couldn't help but be glued to the sight of Jaune's back. A burst of warmth spread throughout her core and she couldn't help but remember her private bathroom sessions in Beacon. Someone tapped her shoulder, Pyrrha jumped, turning to see a grinning Nora and Ren standing before her.

"Pyrrha if you stare any longer you're going to flood the room, and I don't mean with the drool coming out of your mouth right now." Pyrrha frowned crossing her arms in annoyance, laughing, Nora reached out to tap Pyrrha's nose slightly.

"Boop!"

* * *

 **Elsewhere…**

In a land surrounded by darkness, a discolored sky stretching from horizon to horizon was all that could be seen. The creatures of Grimm roamed this land in mass, pools of blackness giving birth to the nightmares of the world.

In the center of this proverbial hell, was a single tower. It constructed from stone that was blacker than night and taller than any construction in the Four Kingdoms.

In it the Queen and Ruler of these dark lands met with another ancient evil.

"So, tell me why I should help you." The albino queen asked evenly as she sat in her throne staring at a warrior whose armor was painted crimson with a gunmetal grey trim. Spikes adorned his armor, with the skulls and helms of warriors fallen to him, were strapped across his body.

"We've both got our enemies here. You've got the natives of this world and I have those that come from another place in time and space." He said his voice was raspy and deep, both from disuse along with a visible scar that marred his neck. Surrounding them four six individuals eyed this giant and his weapons.

Hanging at his waist was a strange looking pistol. While in his left hand was an abnormal sized metal mace with a bleached skull at the top, surrounding by eight spikes.

"Ah, you mean the Arcs." The crimson warrior waved his right hand dismissively.

"They're nothing but broken relics from a broken empire that worships a rotting corpse, nothing more." The albino queen looked at the warrior, discontent clearly on her pale, veined face.

"You say that, yet from what I've seen and what I've heard. This so called, Long War, has yet to end with a final victory for you." The crimson warrior frowned at that.

"It matters not if they hold onto their pathetic lives for one year or ten thousand. We will win in the end, plucking the eyes, tongue, and flesh from their corpses to offer to the True Pantheon." The tension in the room started to rise, as everyone in there seemed to sense the impending violence. However the albino woman raised her hand to stay the hands of her chosen from acting.

"I will accept this offer for fealty, but not because of this so called truth you bring. No, I accept because I know you have no choice in this." She said with a smile splitting her face, though all can see that her eyes bore the finality of death.

Even the crimson warrior was aware that things would not end well, even if he lived to make it out of the tower. He kneeled before the albino queen as she rose to stand over him.

"The Sons of the Urizen will do as you bid, my Queen."

* * *

 **Plot moving so fast, you'd forget this has Warhammer 40k in it.**

 **But seriously, this chapter was a pain in the ass because, I was supposed to be done last week but I was going over it. I realized I made a very big mistake so I scrapped the entire chapter which was twice the length of this chapter.**

 **So yea, there's that.**

 **Anyways, feel free to leave a comment or review on what you think of this chapter or the story as a whole. Is there anything you like or don't like, or is there something you wanna see in the future.**

 **Aside from that, I'm interested to hear what you guys think of my portrayal of the RWBY Characters. Does it make sense in the context of this story or not. Does their conversations, thoughts and actions make sense?**

 **This also applies to the "OC" and Warhammer 40k characters.**

 **Another thing at the same time I've been struggling on where best to place this Fanfic, part of me wants to put it in the general RWBY section while another part wants me to leave it in the Crossover section.**

 **On one hand I want the general populace of the RWBY community to see this and obviously read it. The other hand it's supposed to be in the Crossover section.**

 **At the same time I feel like it would do more good for the story to have the perspectives of those who understand and know about Warhammer 40k along with those that don't understand it.**

 **Moving on from that let it be known that I'm working on the stories in a alternating fashion, so don't expect a progress report until after A Dance of Death Chapter 3.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, till next time.**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Saul stood over the dead traitor holding his bolt pistol and power sword; the midnight blue armor was tarnished with puncture marks from both of his weapons. He pulled the power sword from the traitor's chest, blood hissing on the blade as the energy field burned it away.

Looking up, he could see that the forest around him burned with the fires of war, pops and cracks of gunfire from the supporting Arcadian infantry reverberated around him. Though there were also the occasional bursts of bolter fire that echoed through the forest either from the 3rd Cohort or the traitors themselves.

Explosions rocked the terrain as the Army air wings continued to flatten the surrounding areas to pen the traitors from escaping.

A few stray rounds shattered against his armor as well but standard Arcadian infantry weapons weren't a threat unless in massed numbers. Though the chances of that ever happening were slim to none but he frowned at that as he looked down at the dead 8th Legionnaire.

A time long ago, he would have been a comrade fighting for the same goal as him. They would have been the shield of Mankind as they made their way through a hostile galaxy but those days were gone, never to return.

With them was his honor for his own gene brothers and father abandoned the cause, turning their guns on brothers and comrades alike.

It made him both sickened and sad to know the fate they had walked down. Sickened to know that their blood ran through his veins as well as knowing of the tragic fall of his brothers.

"Legatus!" A new voice entered the clearing and Saul turned to see several Legionnaires from the 3rd Cohort coming into the clearing.

Four wore light silver armor with the edges of the armor being metallic blue, all carrying standard bolters. White arrows pointing upward could be seen on their right shoulder while the Arc emblem was on their left.

The fifth and sixth members wore green armor with yellow trimmings on their pauldrons. A silver winged skull displayed on their chests with the Arc emblem on their left shoulders while having an inverted V on their right. One carried a flamethrower in his hands while the other one was outfitted to carry a heavy bolter.

The seventh Legionnaire wore grey armor with a silver winged skull in the middle of his chest and a red helmet. His pauldrons were pitch black, the golden Arc emblem in stark contrast to the black background of his left pauldron with a skull on his right pauldron.

He had a bolt pistol maglocked to his right thigh and a chainsword in his left hand. He used the tip of the serrated weapon to poke the dead bodies of a few other dead Night Lords in the clearing. The squad behind him set to work in dragging the five other dead traitors into a single pile before the Legionnaire with the Flamethrower set them on alight.

"Yes Decanus?" Saul responded as he stepped away from the dead Night Lord. The red helmed Legionnaire stepped forward and gestured to the south with his chainsword.

"Centurion Delius is moving the 1st and 3rd Centuriae three klicks south, there's a derelict tower there that's holding the Army up. Reports indicating that the traitors have at least fourteen Havocs on site, four Heavy Bolters, eight with missile launchers and two lascannons. Plus maybe a two or three dozen Night Lords in support of those." Saul looked towards the sergeant.

"Do we know if there's any chance of them escaping?" The sergeant shook his head.

"The infantry company that arrived on the scene first lost their main armor units but fell back after exchanging fire for half an hour before two additional companies closed in. They've been trading shots but the Lascannon and missiles are keeping them at bay so they set up a perimeter to keep them from trying to escape." Saul shook his head at hearing this, as he reloaded his own bolt pistol and locked it to his thigh, keeping the power sword in hand.

"Detestable as the 8th Legion may be they are experts in escaping their foes, this forest is to their advantage. Hence why I ordered the Army Aircraft wings to raze the forest, it robs them of that advantage as we closed in for the kill. However we can't torch the entire thing, word might make it back to the Four Kingdoms and we don't want them asking too many questions." The sergeant nodded.

"True and it was a good decision sure but that won't be a problem that section of the forest was already put to the torch. Everything within four hundred meters of the tower is nothing but ash." Saul nodded as a flight of three Avengers swooped low over the tree line. Each one releasing four rockets from the underside of their wings before pulling up, Saul listened as a ripple of explosions could be heard several seconds later.

"What is the status of the other units?" Saul asked as he proceeded to make his way in the direction the sergeant pointed earlier.

"Colonel Cohen has his 1st and 3rd Battalion covering the western reach while 4th Battalion is stationed at the Daglaski Fjord. Canoness Commander Kila's or anyone from her commandery have not voxed in yet, the third contubernium says that the Sisterhood's Bullheads got scattered by the Night Lords but no one knows for sure where they are. Captain Yen is bringing the Wayfarer into low orbit to provide support with C.A.S flights." Saul said nothing as they traversed the ruined forest.

There was a few Arcadian infantry squads spread out in the area, no doubt to cover the rear of the Companies up ahead from attacks.

The possibility of the traitorous Night Lords having a few remaining warriors in the forest was a high chance. Not only that the fighting would have no doubt drawn the attention of Grimm. Whether or not they attack depends on how good or bad the situation goes.

The fighting had already lasted for nearly six hours, no one had expected to encounter a large amount of Night Lords as they fled to the south. The assessment of the Intelligence Agency was that there was less than thirty left after Amboss.

Instead they had run into a force of a nearly two hundred and fifty Night Lords.

The first move of the battle was a two part strike aimed at the lead armor elements of the Arcadian Army and the Bullheads of the Legion. Saul saw four Bullheads filled with Legionnaires hit by Lascannon fire before his own Bullhead took a direct hit to the cockpit forcing him to ditch the craft at the last second.

From what he was able to gleam over the chaos of the fighting that occurred over the next hour was that it was a slaughter for almost any Arcadian Company caught alone.

It wasn't until he had reached the Flight Commander of the supporting Army Air Wings that he was able to order forest to be targeted by Bullheads and Avenger Strike Craft.

Numerous danger close sorties were done around both the Legion and Arcadian forces, racking the forest with explosions. Soon enough the forest in a fifteen mile radius was a charred shadow of its former glory.

Though the sons of Curze may not traditionally fight like him and the others in the old days save for the warriors of the Nineteenth Legion. They were still Astartes to their core. So despite this they still fought tooth and nail for every inch of ground.

Casualties have been high; at least four contubernium worth of Legionnaires have perished. Along with the better part of several Arcadian Infantry companies including the armored elements paired to them.

It was far too high a price for Saul's taste but it must be done to keep them from escaping. If they lose the scent of the Night Lords today, they would never find them on their own terms any time soon.

The trees around Saul and the other Legionnaires started to thin out, the sound of gunfire growing louder as they came to the source of conflict. Now dozens of Arcadian soldiers milled around them, most were waiting to be called forward to join the fighting.

However there were also mortar crews, Vox operators and field medics attending to wounded men or women. Bolt rounds cracked through the air, most of them missing their marks instead blasting chunks out of the few remaining trees but some did find victims.

Saul watched as two bolts ripped into a medic who was carrying a wounded soldier.

Within seconds of the rounds hitting the medic, the left shoulder erupted in a shower of gore as the mass reactive round detonated. The left arm fell away from the body to lay on the charred grass, soaking it with blood.

The second round had hit the abdomen, blood, flesh, armor and ruined intestines shot forward covering Saul's legs. The medic and wounded soldier fell to the ground, one no doubt dead and the other soon to be.

He ignored them as he stepped towards what he assumed was some sort of officer who was pulling a wounded soldier behind an overturned Chimera.

"Legionnaires? About fucking time." The man pulling the wounded soldier said as he noticed them. He stood up and hefted his rifled before peeking around the edge of the Chimera. Shouldering the rifle he fired a trio of five round bursts up at the tower before ducking behind as a bolt round cracked at him. Saul turned to the Decanus.

"Spread out and assist the Army units, notify me when Centurion Delius is here." Saul said towards the Legionnaire, the warrior raised a fist to his chest before directing the rest of his contubernium to join the fight. The heavy sounds of bolter fire mixed in with the cacophony of rifle fire from the infantry.

"Marvin! Get a runner to third platoon, Irssak isn't responding and someone find me that fucking F.O.!" The man yelled gesturing for another soldier to start running in a crouch from foxhole to foxhole. Saul simply kneeled down both to avoid stray bolt rounds and to wait for the man's attention.

"What the fuck do you want?" The man asked turning to face him; Saul couldn't help but raise his eyebrows a little in surprise. There were very few officers in the Army that could address beings such as him without being a little fearful. Though the man wouldn't be able to see the amused look on Saul's face due to the helmet he wore.

"I assume you're a Captain, right?" The man nodded.

"Major actually. Major Thomas Harroda 2nd Battalion, 82nd Light Infantry, 4th Infantry Division of the 3rd Army." Saul nodded before gesturing to himself.

"Legionis Legatus Saul, I'm at your service Major Harroda." Saul said he could see the man stiffen up considerably at hearing that, the vox operator and two other soldiers nearby stared as well.

"So I hear you've got problems with that tower Major." The man seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in.

"Well Sir, my 3rd Company ran into the fuckers earlier and took a beating. The idiot Barruva got his squad killed by bunching them up together; a frag missile killed them all in one swoop. Also got half of his company butchered before his second in command pulled them back. They're to our right about half a klick laying down what fire they can to keep the fuckers in the tower from coming out." Someone nearby screamed for them to take cover. Saul braced as a trio of frag rockets slammed around them, followed by a storm of bolter fire hammering the surrounding area. Saul saw several soldiers blown apart by the withering fire and a few of them were even still alive afterwards, crying out in absolute pain.

The loud scream of jet engines could be heard as the stream of fire lessened. Saul looked up to see the same three Avenger Strike Fighters diving down at the tower. Gouts of flames erupted at the nose of the craft as they sent a shower of autocannon shells into the tower before each one unleashed a trio of rockets.

Saul watched as nine burning lights with white exhaust trailing them, hammered the tower side. Inspecting the tower for the first time since he arrived he was surprise to see that it was still standing.

The tower was sixty meters tall, with three adjacent towers that were forty meters tall, connected by bridges surrounding it. If he had to make a rough guess, each tower had a diameter of about twenty meters and looked to be made of stone.

However the damage it had sustained was clear to see, two of the three connecting towers were in ruins. Each one was toppled from the fire of the Arcadian soldiers. The third looked like it was about to fall at any moment but the main tower was standing fast despite a dozen holes in its side. Saul could even see the light of flames inside a few holes.

Those flames betrayed the movement of the traitors inside, he could see them sticking out in front of the fire before disappearing behind the walls again.

"Legatus, this is Delius, where do you need me?" The gravelly voice of Fourth Centuria's Centurion came over Saul's vox link.

"The traitors are holding position in the main tower, the Army units are unable to approach and are trying to bring it down but most of their armor was taken out." There was a series of pings as bolt rounds hammered the overturn Chimera.

"We'll handle this Legatus." Delius responded, Saul said nothing in response as he switched Vox channels to contact the Wayfarer. The Wayfarer was a naval ship that was seconded to his command as he hunted the traitors.

"Wayfarer this is Prime." Saul waited for a few seconds before a business like woman's voice came over the line.

"Prime, this is Wayfarer we read you five by five." Another missile slammed into the ground several meters to Saul's left. The concussive force pressed against him before dirt, rocks and body parts pelleted his armor.

"Wayfarer I'm going to relay you these coordinates for a Danger Close Fire Mission." There was a pause over the line, gunfire crackled around Saul but his helmet dampened the sounds out.

"Acknowledge Prime. Time on Target T-minus four minutes, suggest taking whatever cover you can find down there." Saul switched back to the Legion Command channel.

"Delius order your Legionnaires to take cover, I've called for a Danger Close Fire Mission from Wayfarer." Saul looked down at Major Harroda.

"Major Harroda! I suggest you get on the vox with your men and tell them to brace for impact, Wayfarer is launching a bombardment against the tower." The Army major snapped his head towards Saul before reaching out to his Vox Operator. He grabbed the soldier's collar and pulled him towards him.

"Tell all units to take cover we've got Orbital Strikes inbound!" He shouted before directing the men around him to take cover. Saul reached down and pulled up his bolt pistol, checking to make sure it had a full magazine in it before looking to the sky.

In the afternoon light he could see a dark shape appear in the sky dozens of miles over head. It was the Wayfarer; Saul hunkered closer to the Chimera.

There was a serious of booms, which reminded Saul of thunder before a loud whistling sound. Saul peeked over the Chimera as the whistling continued, he could see the traitors inside reacting to the sound but it was too late.

There was a brief second that Saul felt that he could see the shells dropping in before the tower was riddled with massive explosions.

His helmet sensors immediately kicked in, compensating for the multiple explosions. Damping the sound and sight of the explosions as it tore the tower apart. Each one sending a massive ripple of concussive force that even he could feel was pushing against the Chimera.

As more and more shells struck with devastating effect, the area became shrouded from the dirt and smoke kicked up by the shells. Even then the shells didn't stop coming, the loud, ear splitting explosions followed by the concussive blast that could be felt in his chest as the waves rolled over them, again and again.

Unfortunately a few shells had drifted off target. Saul could see to his right, an explosion erupted high into the sky from a stay shell less than a hundred meters to the Arcadian line. There was no doubt that someone got hurt from that.

Thankfully the rest of the shells didn't get terribly closer to the Arcadian lines. Some were close like that one but nothing serious.

Almost like a tap being turned off, the shelling stopped. Saul looked up but the area was still shrouding in the dirt and smoke from the bombardment. Soldiers started calling out to each other and Major Harroda was barking orders into the vox caster.

"Legatus, the Army units are slightly disorganized shall I advance with my Century onto the traitors in the smoke cover?" Delius voice came over the vox channel in Saul's helmet.

"Negative Delius, hold the line with the Army units. If the Night Lords slip past you they'd wreak havoc on the Army units." Saul said as he stepped past the Chimera, even with the helmet the visibility was cut down to less than a hundred meters for him.

Though his hearing was fine, all along the line soldiers were moaning or calling out to each other. He noted that there was very little confusion amongst the ranks of the Arcadian soldiers, as they got their bearings of the situation.

Soon enough the smoke started to disappear and Saul readied his bolt pistol. Behind him he could hear Major Harroda barking orders for his soldiers to stand ready in case anything charged at them.

They waited, yet nothing happened and Saul stepped forward slowly. The soldiers behind him didn't move as he moved. The dust started to settle a little more as he moved forward, after walking about forty paces he came across demolished debris of masonry.

No doubt from the tower, but the question being was it here before the bombardment or after? Saul froze as he heard a crunch to his left, dropping into a crouch as he raised his bolt pistol up he saw the Decanus from before.

"Vox me next time you're going to come finding me Decanus, I nearly put a bolt round between your eyes." Saul snapped and the Decanus bowed his head in apology.

"Doesn't matter, how's your contubernium? Any casualties?" The Decanus shook his head.

"We're fine, a couple of close calls but nothing major." Saul nodded as he faced forward, the area was finally clearing out and he got a look at the tower.

The tower was no longer standing; it lay crumpled upon itself barely reaching a few meters high in some places. While in other areas were craters left by the bombardment, shattered masonry was strewn throughout the area but Saul could see that there wasn't enough there to equal the size of the towers.

"Over here!" One of the Legionnaires called out to Saul's left and he moved over there with the rest of the contubernium at his back.

The Legionnaire who called out stood over the shattered bodies of three Night Lords. Their armor was torn and crumpled, one was missing his legs. The other didn't have a head, while the third had a fist size rock embedded in his chest plate.

Saul looked up and could see more Night Lords in the ruins of the towers; he looked back down at the three before him. Raising his bolt pistol he put a round in each one before turning to the Decanus.

"Get me a count of the dead and if there's any alive, finish them."

* * *

 **An Hour Later…**

Thirty four Night Lords, which was the amount of bodies that Centurion Delius had reported to him a few minutes earlier. Those thirty four had held off hundreds of Arcadian soldiers and their armor.

Saul watched as scores of wounded Arcadian soldiers were moved onto Bullheads to be taken up to the Wayfarer for treatment.

An entire Division of the Arcadian Army had been deployed alongside a Sisterhood Preceptory and five full Cohorts of the Legion. Thirty thousand soldiers, a thousand Sisters, along with hundreds tanks, armored personnel carriers, armored vehicles and artillery guns.

Along with them were the attending auxiliary units of the Mechanicum and the Hospitallers.

The Mechanicum maintained the fighting capability of their armor, weapons, fuel, ammunition, and equipment. While the Hospitallers maintained the bodies of the people so they can use those weapons and equipment.

The Arcadian Army also a contingent of the Military Logistics group here. They made sure the necessary catalogue of events is taken. Everything from how the Army Division planned for battle with what equipment to how things actually went down.

They noted loses in things like manpower, fuel, equipment, medical supplies. Along with usage of items like food, water, clothing, all manner of things, even body bags.

They were a professional bunch but that was to be expected in a sense. They didn't do the fighting; their job was to make sure that the logistical capability of the Military was maintained. Which in turned made sure those soldiers in the field had the right means to do their own jobs and make it home alive.

Though any experienced soldier would talk about how much bullshit that really was. There were constant snags in the lines of communications for parts, weapons, ammo, fuel and even manpower.

There was an incident about two decades ago of an entire regiment getting a shipment of bolt rounds when they were collectively at twenty percent of capacity on ammunition. It wouldn't have been so bad if the Grimm had attacked them a day or so later.

The regiment was mauled to the point that the Army had marked them combat ineffective. They sidelined from active duty for nearly a year before they were up to half strength.

Having run out of ammo early in their fighting then relying on their armor to blunt the repeated attacks of the Grimm left the regiment in a bad state. Most of the armor was destroyed or crippled to the point it would require at least a day to two or three weeks to repair them.

Infantry causalities had also been high; for some soldiers a bad engagement meant two or three dead with another one or two wounded. In this case only three to four soldiers were still alive out of every ten, that didn't even include the wounded.

Saul looked to the sky; it was swarming with Bullheads heading to the Wayfarer. Each one was no doubt packed with wounded soldiers and members of the Hospitallers.

If one were to look at the big picture of this battle, they would say that it was a fairly one side victory. However the Division had been split up with each respective Regiment being paired to a Cohort and one Commandery.

That wasn't even getting to his Legion and the five Cohorts that were deployed. He was always uneasy about using the Legion, mainly because it was a throwback to his old days, days he now looked at in remorse and fear.

To deploy a cohort of six hundred Legionnaires was a powerful force. Five cohorts were three thousand Legionnaires strong; such a force was to be feared. Greater beings than him have held this sort of power and failed to use it for the good of mankind.

There was even a lot of tension in the Legion itself due to this nature. More than a few Legionnaires found it distasteful at the current structure of the Legion.

From what he gathered from the few more mild tempered ones after the Betrayal, these sorts of fighting forces were looked down upon. For they did nothing but serve to remind them of the wounds dealt in the past and how their kind wasn't meant to control it.

He sighed, now wasn't the time to dwell on these thoughts. There were still so many things to do; he needed to arrange the transfer of all Arcadian assets to their new duty stations. Look over the reports of the Pilus Priors then make a report of his own to the Stewardess Arabella and the Council.

He sighed; he was going to be so tired after this.

* * *

 **A Week Later…**

Once again Pyrrha sat in the observation rooming watching Jaune train in the full gear of a normal Arcadian soldier. He was holding a one handed longsword and a round shield fighting against two Sisterhood warriors who held longswords and shields of their own.

Jaune was surprisingly holding his own against his two opponents. Which Pyrrha was proud to see, even now he was sticking to the fundamentals of her training, crouching low with a wide stance.

However what was interesting was the way he was now using his shield and sword. More often than not Pyrrha would see him or other people keeping the shield and sword close to their body.

The principal behind this method was supposedly the inherent push back for a counter attack. Have the shield flat as it takes the hit while having the shortest distance needed for the blade to strike back.

It seems someone's been teaching Jaune something else. He now held the shield angled to the side, no longer taking sword strikes with just the flat of his shield. Instead he was using it to push the strikes to either side as the Sisterhood warriors attacked him.

Swords worked on the basis of leverage or angle. If the edge of a blade met another's blade in a head on strike the chances of the two struggling to beat each other increase. Both relying on who can beat who in terms of strength. Pyrrha remembered seeing Jaune have this trouble when he fought Cardin.

Cardin who wasn't a skilled fighter, simply a stronger one who would always beat Jaune in those feats. However Cardin would also rely on making big flashy strikes to end his opponents, often leading to him just swinging wildly and over extending his reach. Which Pyrrha recalled made him vulnerable to get slammed into the ground from twenty feet up in the air.

Good times.

Pyrrha focused back to the spar at hand. Jaune was adapting well in the fight moving his blade away from the Sisterhood's strong side of the blade to get a better leverage to turn it aside.

The closer an opponent's blade to the base or hilt of the sword means they're close to the source of power of their opponent. Ideally the best position one would want to be in is where they can apply the most pressure on another. Generally this would mean anyway from the tip and halfway down from it were the weak parts in a blade to blade fight.

It's easier to push aside a blade from those areas to avoid getting hit because it's in a sense the glass cannon attack for swords.

If for say a thrust with a sword is made and it hits then it'll be a deadly or serious wound. However if a person knocks it aside at the top or dodges the thrust, then the opponent is left in a position of being over extended with their blade.

Looking down at Jaune she could see him deflecting one blade before sending a kick that sent the Sister stumbling back. Before turning around and stepping to the side then slashing down on a thrust the second Sister made.

With her blade striking tip first into the ground Jaune moved in on her right. The Sister immediately stood up and tried matching his movements as she attacked with her shield. This time Jaune took the hit with his shield straight as he jumped at her. That robbed the strength of her strike but also sent her falling onto her back.

Jaune rolled off her and stood up first. Pyrrha winced as Jaune smacked her in the face with his shield, sending the Sister back onto the ground. Jaune reached out and slide the dulled blade across her throat. Anna Vermillion who was supervising the match called out that the Sister was dead.

Jaune turned in time to get a kick to the chest, Jaune stumbled back then immediately dropped into a crouch before jumping up again but this Sister was expecting that. She moved to her right as Jaune turned around only to get his shield knocked to the left by her foot again.

Pyrrha watched as the Sister brought her sword down on his exposed shield arm, only to strike the shield as Jaune let go of the shield.

Before she can follow up on this, Jaune grabbed her shield by the edge and moving behind her. His left hand which was gripping the shield dragged it aside, exposing her arm; he slashed down at her shoulder.

The Sister blocked the blade but now the two of them were locked into position for a few moments. The Sister reacted first by kicking backwards at Jaune's leg sending Jaune stumbling back.

However Jaune still had her shield as she had let go of it to avoid falling back with him. He tossed the shield aside and turned to face the Sister only to see her blade coming at him in another thrust. Swinging down with his sword, he knocked the blade down and away from him.

The Sister however used that momentum to quickly spin around and bring the blade swinging down on him. Jaune raised his blade again and blocked it this time. As their swords came to blows again, the sound of dulled steel striking repeatedly could be heard.

Finally the two locked swords with each other, Pyrrha saw Jaune twisting his wrist in order to get the edge of his blade around to press the flat of the Sister's sword.

Swords relied on a number of things to be effective, angle, position, pressure and strength of the sword arm. It was basic biomechanics for swordsmen; if they pressed forward with their blades then they were weak laterally and vice versa.

Pyrrha watched as Jaune and the remaining Sister continued to trade blows. Pyrrha could see that Jaune was still for the most part on the defensive end. Reacting to her every move instead of making her react, that being said he was doing phenomenally well in comparison to their time in Beacon.

The Sister swung downwards at Jaune's neck; he raised his sword by the hilt intercepting the edge of the Sister's sword with the strong point of his sword. Twisting his wrist, Jaune used his crossguard to push the sword down and away as he made to elbow the Sister.

However it seemed she was coming up with a similar idea of her own. Instead of Jaune's elbowing connecting with her face, Jaune stumbled back as a fist smashed into his helmet.

As Jaune was stumbling back, the Sister knocked his sword out of his hands. Looking back at her as she slashed down Jaune crouched and tackled her to the ground.

The sword fell from the Sister's hand which Jaune was glad but he wasn't glad to get another fist smashing the face plate of his helmet. She hammered three more punches and Jaune could see the visor on the helmet was cracked again, before she tucked her legs in and pushed him off.

Jaune rolled to the side and got on his feet only to get another fist hammering his helmet. Stepping back he raised his own fists as the Sister lashed out. He used his left forearm to block this strike then raised his left knee and kicked out to as she tried kicking him.

Jaune ducked another fist then crossed his arms together as she tried to knee his face. Jaune rolled to the right then lashed out with a fist, hitting the Sister in the side of her knee. Jaune winced as his fist made contact with her armored knee.

While she wasn't wearing the standard armor for those in the Sisterhood, she still was wearing metal armor on her arms and legs with layered leather armor on her torso. Jaune stood up, jabbing with his right fist at the side of his head.

He expected her to try and move to avoid getting hit altogether but instead she stepped towards him, turning clockwise. With his arm over her shoulder the Sister grabbed it and pulled him over, tossing him to the ground.

Jaune groaned as he rolled to the side avoid her fist from smacking his head again. Getting to his feet again, he was about to raise his hands as a fist came sailing through his guard, cracking against his collar bone.

A second fist on his right, hitting where his cheek would be and sent him sprawling to the ground, Jaune looked from the corner of his eye then looked up. The Sister was poised over him, he raised his left hand catching one of her fists but he failed to catch the second one before it smacked him.

Jaune however reached out with his right hand, grabbing the collar of her leather armor. Raising his right knee he pulled forward and tossed her over him. Jaune rolled to his right as he got up he picked something up from the ground.

As the Sister fell on her back, she rolled to her left and got on her feet with her fists raised. What she wasn't expecting was Jaune swinging a sword at her. The dulled training longsword smacked her in the chest, knocking the wound out of her as she fell to the ground. There was a whistle and Anna walked out onto the training floor.

"You've won Jaune, congratulations." Jaune pulled the helmet off his head. Sweat coated his face and he took a deep breath.

"Thank you." Anna crossed her arms.

"Now tell me what you could have done better there." Jaune straightened up as he thought about the fight, then lifted the cracked helmet.

"Didn't react as fast as I could to intercept or counter her blows. Had this been a real fight, where she had a weapon or her armor she would have smashed my skull in." Anna nodded.

"It's important to know where you need to improve because the next time you're in a situation like this, it won't be training swords." Jaune nodded as Anna gestured to the cracked helmet.

"Really need to get you something sturdier, that's the ninth helmet you cracked in the last three days. I think Enginseer Paulus might bust a gasket if you break anymore helmets." One of the Sisters who had been sparring with Jaune quipped up at that.

"You don't need to get him a helmet; he's already got a thick skull." Jaune chuckled as he shook his head; Anna looked up at the wall where a digital clock was mounted. It was seven at night, to Jaune it felt like the day had barely even begun, everything felt like a blur in the routine of his training.

"I guess it's time for me to head to Rolf's meditation session." Jaune said as he picked up his sword and shield.

"Actually, Rolf wanted me to tell you that you're sessions with him are over." Jaune looked back at Anna to see that she looked uncomfortable which Jaune honestly thought was a little cute.

"Really? Did he say why?" Anna shook her head.

"No and on top of that he said that the training was also over since the test is being moved up to tomorrow." Anna could see Jaune's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait what?!" She nodded.

"It was decided to move the date up, Rolf said that no warrior prepares for battle to happen at his time but prepares his time for battle." Jaune threw his hands up in exasperation before looking at Anna.

"What does that even mean?" She simply shrugged before looking up at the observation deck.

"Well, look on the bright side; you've been working incredibly hard and have learned a lot." Anna said but Jaune ran a hand through his hand.

"But it's not going to be enough to beat Rolf in a fight. I have no doubt in my mind that he's stronger, faster, more skillful, and just all around more experienced in fighting than me." Anna shook her head.

"Then there's no point in dwelling over his Jaune, whatever happens, happens in the end you're just going to have to deal with the consequences." Jaune didn't say anything as he placed the shield and sword on the racks he got them from. Then wordlessly went into the locker room.

"He's being tough on himself isn't he?" A new voice called out and Anna looked to see Pyrrha leaning on the rails of the stairs from the observation room.

"Yes but I suppose it's understandable in this case. Fighting someone like Rolf would be absolutely terrifying." Pyrrha looked towards the albino.

"He's stronger than you?" Anna nodded.

"Far stronger than someone like me, it's as Jaune said. He's stronger, faster, skilled, and experienced. I would need to live several lifetimes to be on the same level as that man." Pyrrha nodded slowly.

"So how has Jaune come along in his training? I was watching from above with his fight with the Sisters and was wondering how do you think he did?" Anna nodded at that.

"He's doing great; he's made progress by leaps and bounds with my training. If I had trained him before Beacon I reckon he would have been able to beat you Pyrrha." Surprisingly enough the red hair champion laughed.

"Maybe, he's a hard working person who always does what he thinks is right and more often than not his instincts in a fight are amazing. I have no doubt that he's got talent and skill in him but it wouldn't be because of your training that would lead to his victory but himself as a whole." Anna quirked an eyebrow at the other girl, she was unsure what to say for a few moments.

"On top of that, even with the training it's easy to see that his core footwork and stance relies on what I've already taught him." Anna frowned a little but Pyrrha was simply smiling as she stared at the door which Jaune had gone into.

"So training is over now?" Anna nodded.

"Good." Pyrrha said with a wide smile as Jaune came out of the locker room. He was dressed in a simple white shirt with black shorts with grey shoes that had black laces.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune called out in surprise, had she been watching him this entire time?

"Hello again!" Pyrrha called cheerfully at him. Jaune shook his head at the trademark greeting and walked over to her.

"Were you watching?" Jaune asked as he looked up at the observation deck, Pyrrha smiled as she nodded.

"Why didn't you come down sooner?" Jaune asked, curious to why she came now of all times to see him. Pyrrha's smile fell away a little at the question and Jaune immediately regretted asking it.

"Well Rolf asked us not to come disturb you until you're done training. I decided that even if I couldn't talk to you that I needed to see you so I came to watch all of your training sessions." Something about that rubbed Jaune in a strange way; he couldn't put his finger on it.

In fact the more Jaune looked into Pyrrha's eyes he couldn't help but get the sensation that something in Pyrrha had changed. He continued to look into Pyrrha's eyes until she started to poke his face repeatedly.

"I'm sorry what?" Jaune asked as he shook his head, Pyrrha looked puzzled at him.

"Jaune you weren't answering my question."

"What question?" Pyrrha's cheeks were a little pink as she looked away from him.

"I was asking if you would be so kind as to show me around the city." Jaune blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"Jaune, would you like to go on a date with me?" Pyrrha asked but Jaune just looked puzzled.

"Like now?" Pyrrha nodded.

"Really?" Pyrrha gave him a look that sent a shiver down his spine but before he could say anything Cressida had returned.

"Actually Ms. Nikos I hate to inform you this but the young lord isn't allowed to leave the Citadel until after his trials are done." Jaune could see the despair settle on Pyrrha's shoulders at hearing this but surprisingly enough she looked up at him. Putting her hands on either side of his face, she drew him close to her.

The next thing he knew was his lips were locked with hers.

As Pyrrha's lips locked with his she could feel a warm sensation take over her body as her heart beat went into overdrive as her body heated up in more than one area. Jaune's left hand wrapped around Pyrrha's waist and he pulled her closer to him.

Pyrrha could feel the progress that Jaune had made as her body pressed against his thin clothes. A small part of her mind made a mental note that she was going to need to take care of herself later in private. After what seemed like a blissful eternity, Pyrrha reluctantly broke contact.

"Well, I guess that makes up for it." Pyrrha said as she cleared her throat softly, desperately trying to hide her yearning for Jaune at the moment. Though she could tell that the only person she fooled was Jaune, which wasn't really surprising.

"Well, I'm gonna go check on Ren and Nora. Can Jaune at least start staying with us now, since his training is apparently done?" Pyrrha asked turning to face Cressida but the older woman shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, he's still required to stay in the Blackshield Tower." Pyrrha started to feel a little annoyed at that.

"How come?" She asked but Cressida just shrugged.

"I really can't say for sure Ms. Nikos; those are just the standing orders at the moment. Until told otherwise, I'm to escort the young lord back to his quarters." Pyrrha was about to say something but Jaune raised his hand, stopping her.

"It's alright Pyrrha; I'll come see you and the others as soon as I can." Pyrrha's face softened as she looked at him.

"Promise?" This brought a smile to Jaune's face.

"An Arc never goes back on his word."

* * *

 **Later that Night…**

Pyrrha opened the door of her room and stepped out into the main room of where they were being housed. Nora sat across one couch watching the wall mounted television which was currently on a cartoon channel.

The smell of food wafted through the air and the familiar scent of pancakes could be detected. Nora sat up on the couch and looked towards her.

"Sup Pyrrha!" Nora called out as Pyrrha sat next to her on the couch.

"Hello Nora."

"So how's Jaune? We didn't come to see him at the end of his training today."

"Oh, he's doing fine. It turns out his combat test is tomorrow now so his training is done." Nora jumped up and Pyrrha jumped a little in surprise.

"Well that's great!" She cried out before turning to the kitchen.

"REN! DID YOU HEAR PYRRHA?! JAUNE'S DONE WITH HIS TRAINING!" The bubbly orange hair girl shouted loudly. Ren came out from the kitchen area with a pink apron on, and an exasperated look on his face.

"Nora, I can hear you fine so please don't shout." Nora had the common decency to look a little bashful before reverting back to her normal self.

"Sorry Ren." The magenta eyed boy turned to Pyrrha.

"So Jaune's done with his training?" Pyrrha nodded.

"How come he's not here then? I figured he'd want to hang out with us since we're here." Pyrrha nearly slapped herself at forgetting.

"That's the thing, since his combat test is tomorrow he's not allowed to leave until afterwards." The other two exchanged looks before turning back to Pyrrha.

"So he's fighting Rolf tomorrow?" Ren asked and Pyrrha nodded.

"Do you think he's stronger than Saul?" Nora asked.

"I honestly don't know we haven't even seen Saul fight before." Ren said.

"I remember watching Alexander fight at Beacon Tower." Pyrrha said softly, Ren and Nora turned to her.

"He was magnificent, I barely lasted five minutes against Cinder and that power she stole. Alexander though he stood toe to toe with her giving her a tough battle. If Rolf has even a tenth of the skill as Alexander, there's no chance for Jaune to win." Ren looked towards Nora and it was a silent agreement that seeing Pyrrha so openly place doubt on Jaune was not normal.

"Pyrrha?" Nora asked softly, Pyrrha turned to her a sad smile on her face.

"But he never gives up, even when all the odds are against him. He proved that to me when he came back for me at Beacon Tower even though I put him in that locker and sent him away. He still came back to save me but he got hurt because of me and my stupidity." She turned to look away from them and the two friends just stood around silently. After a moment Ren returned to the kitchen and Nora sat next to Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry Nora, I'm sorry for being a burden to you and Ren." Pyrrha whispered, Nora turned to her and could see the champion had glistening eyes. Nora put an arm around her shoulders and drew her into a hug.

"No need to say sorry Pyr, we're friends."

"I don't know what to do, he looks at me like Beacon never happened but it's my fault his dad died and he got injured. Why isn't he being honest with me and getting mad, why is he lying to me?"

"Pyrrha he isn't lying to you, you're just imagining it. Jaune loves you there isn't a person out there that can't see that. So please stop it with these thoughts, I know you feel they're right and I understand that but trust me on this Pyrrha. If you still have doubts, the moment Jaune kicks Rolf's butt you go up to him and ask him on the spot." Pyrrha let go of Nora and sat up straight, rubbing her eyes with both hands.

"Do you really mean it?" Nora smiled and gave her two thumbs up as Ren entered the room holding a tray of buttermilk fried chicken, corn, barbeque beans and mash potatoes. The three friends sat around the table and tucked into their food wholeheartedly.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Jaune sat alone in his room staring at the ceiling. It was dark inside but he didn't really mind it. The cool air mixed with the darkness of the room was surprisingly comforting, like a blanket that didn't overheat him or leave him cold.

He couldn't help but think about what he had seen earlier with Pyrrha. Even after all this time she looked as beautiful as ever. A faint smile touched his lips as he could imagine the cinnamon smell on her like he was so used to.

Yet there was something about her that seemed to have changed since he last saw her. He wasn't sure if it was always a part of her and he just missed it or something that came to light recently.

When he had looked into her eyes he was always enthralled by them. It felt like being in a peaceful forest that drowned out all his worries of the world.

Now something had disturbed that world. It was no longer a peaceful place but nor was it necessarily a hostile or chaotic place. Not but something was off and Jaune didn't know what to do about it.

He knew that his absence after the Battle of Beacon where he was injured might cause some alarm or concern in his friends. However he always expected Pyrrha to handle it the best but the more he thought about it the more he realized how wrong he was in thinking that.

Pyrrha was like any of them, she had emotions and feelings like anyone else. So to expect her to be fine after what happened is wrong.

Maybe that was the problem, she had been keeping it bottle up in order to stay strong for the others. Now though she wasn't able to release it like she should. Or maybe there was something else going on?

Jaune groaned aloud as he scratched his head furiously. Why was this so complicated? Jaune sighed as he closed his eyes, but no matter what he did he couldn't go to sleep. He couldn't stop seeing a certain red hair girl.

* * *

 **The Next Morning…**

"Several agents along with their attending retinue have been found dead throughout the Four Kingdoms. One was found in Atlas, another in Vacuo, one in Vale and four in Mistral, all show signs of torture before death." The Director finished reading his report at the Council meeting. No one said anything as they processed the findings.

"Do we have any idea on what sort of leads they were following?" The Civitas Administrator asked turning in her seat to look at the Director who nodded.

"The Atlas and Vacuo agents were looking into recruiting pools of the White Fang. It seems that despite the Battle of Vale that their image hasn't suffered in the other Kingdoms, well save for Atlas but they've never liked them to begin with." The Lord Commander grunted in disgust.

"Do those fools not believe what's in front of their eyes? It's clear as day that the White Fang had a major role to play in the battle. They released Grimm at key points in the City, hundreds of civilians dead with thousands more wounded on top before anyone could be redirected to hunt the Grimm down. That's not even taking into fact that the White Fang themselves took part in the fighting at Beacon." The High Admiral waved a hand dismissively.

"People have the tendency to ignore what's right in front of them, especial if it doesn't fit their narrative." Arabella nodded at this.

"Alas one of the many flaws that we must all contend with but we're getting off track, let the Director finish." She said nodding to the man.

"The Vale agents were tracking down the White Fang contingent, most notably this Adam Taurus fellow. He was the one directing the White Fang forces until he decided to go and attend to some personal issue but he ran into one of the Sentinel Guard. He was never caught after the fighting and still remains at large, hiding with the bulk of his forces in the Outlands from what they gathered before they went dark. Mistral however is where things get a bit hairy. The agents in Mistral had two objectives, to investigate the Haven Academy whose current Headmaster is Professor Lionheart and monitor the movements of the White Fang."

"Why were the teams in Mistral the only ones investigating the Academy of their region?" The Lord Commander asked but the Director waved a hand in a vague sense.

"Well actually there are other teams that were tasked to investigate the Academies of the Vacuo, Vale and Atlas but nothing happened to them. It was only the teams that were charged with the investigation of the White Fang that were targeted." The Lord Marshal leaned forward, her hands clasped together in thought.

"So I assume the speculation going on is that whoever attacked them wants to cut us off from any potential leads by eliminating all your agents in the field because of what they might find out." The Director nodded at this but the Lord Commander spoke up.

"It could be a ruse, make us think that we were close to something there so we'll double our efforts in that Kingdom while they try slipping something under our nose in Vacuo or Atlas."

"That may be the case but I still suggest moving additional assets to Mistral for the time being. We need to catch whatever information we can that we may have already missed the prime date of usage in our absence and to find who's targeting our agents in the field." The Director said as Arabella nodded.

"Alright, thank you for that Director. Now what news do we have on the 8th Legion in Southern Sanus?" Arabella asked looking at the High Admiral, Lord Commander and the Legion representative.

"The 8th Legion scum have been put to the blade." The Legion representative said simply.

"Though there were a much larger number of them than we had truly expected." Arabella frowned at this and indicated for him to expand.

"Well in the report that was compiled for you all the initial assumption was that they had lost most of their strength after the fight at Amboss. However we know that region of Sanus was a perfect setting for them to lose us in so the Legionis Legatus requested that I deploy a full Division there to help tighten the net around them as they could try escaping while he deployed a sizeable strength of the Legion. I deployed the 4th Division from the 3rd Army to assist the five Cohorts he had on the field." This drew some looks of surprise around the table. More often than not what the Legion did wasn't privy to the Council until after it's been done.

"Five Cohorts deployed in Sanus, that's seems like an overkill isn't it? Five Cohorts can defeat almost any army twice its size." The Civitas Administrator said as she looked around the room to gauge the reaction of the others.

"That's true but once we did get into contact with the Night Lords we were greeted by a much larger force. Initial count indicated that we were off by a wide margin when they ambushed our forces and it wasn't until hours after the fighting had begun that we were able to get a rough estimate of their force which was about two hundred and fifty Night Lords." This drew looks of concern among the Council.

"Two hundred and fifty Night Lords, how did we not see something like that coming? If they really did escape us then who knows the damage they'd bring upon Sanus." The High Marshal muttered aloud.

"The Night Lords specialize in terror tactics; any place they would hit that didn't get razed to the ground would draw the Grimm in the thousands. The Four Kingdoms would have to mobilize everything they could to battle not one or two opponents but three opponents. The White Fang, the Grimm, and the Night Lords, they'd be able to handle the first two albeit with probably significant losses or damages but the Night Lords would bring them to the point of collapse before they're stopped." The Director said the others nodding in agreement.

"So what's the issue now? It says in the report that the Legatus killed all of the Night Lords." The Civitas Administrator said as she flipped through the hundred and eighty page long packet that was submitted for the Council to read.

"The issue is no longer what to do with them but how a force of that size made it to the southern regions of Sanus without any of us knowing about it in the first place. The portal at Gellar had been destroyed and the Sisterhood with the support of the Intelligence Agency has been working day in and day out trying to find and stop any more portals being made and if failing that destroy them." The High Admiral pointed out.

"It means that there's some sort of unknown gateway or portal that's being used to bring the denizens of the Immaterium or servants of the Ruinous Powers to our world. If we can't find it then we'll risk waging a ceaseless war with them until we exhaust either our supplies or manpower." The Lord Commander said.

"Let's not forget that the Grimm and the Ruinous Powers go hand in hand. The Ruinous Powers cause fear, anger and other extreme emotions that they thrive off of. While the Grimm are drawn to such emotions, fighting anything and everything they can to a reasonable extent. They're unintentional allies that cover for each other." The High Admiral followed up.

"I can start bolstering my efforts in finding these gateways but they're still extremely difficult to find and I can't guarantee that it'll be any time soon."

"Is there any way we can speed this process up?" The Civitas Administrator asked, no one said anything.

"I suppose that's all we can do until more information comes into light on this matter. What news of the Legatus now?" Arabella asked looking towards the Legionnaire.

"The Legatus is actually supposed to arrive within the next few hours to observe the young lord during his combat test." Arabella nodded before looking to the assembled council.

"Alright then, Director redoubled your efforts in Mistral, with Sanian still on her journey you may consult with my aides on what forces you need from the Sisterhood. Lord Commander, please file an updated report on the status of our armed forces, I want to know how we're doing in maintaining command and logistical structure with the latest developments. High Admiral, please continue monitoring the surrounding space and notify me if any orbital observation runs picks up an anomaly. High Marshal, have your office comply a report of this month's events and send them to me by the end of the week. Administrator, I'll need a dossier on all the diplomats and business representatives that are petitioning a meeting with us. I want to know if any of them are compromised by the White Fang or are lending support to them. Chief Magos, I'll be sending a data packet of the supplies needed once the others have submitted their report." Arabella sat up straight as she looked around the room; everyone gave her their undivided attention.

"I, Arabella Arc, Stewardess of Arcadia, hereby dismiss this council." As everyone stood up, Arabella tucked her data slated under her arm. The last thing on her agenda for the day was to observe Jaune's combat test.

* * *

 **Later That Night…**

Jaune was stretching in the locker room when he heard a door open from nearby. Standing up straight he turned to see his mom standing before him. She was wearing a white blouse with grey pants and black high heel shoes.

"Hey mom." Jaune said Arabella smiled.

"Hello Jaune." She said raising her arms up beckoning him over to hug her, Jaune the ever dutiful son closed the distance and wrapped his arms around her. His mom was never the tallest person but now she seemed so much tinier.

"So are you ready? Have you finished doing your stretches? Did you eat a good lunch? Also did you get enough sleep? Have you been drinking enough water? Oh, you got something on your cheek." Arabella said without pause, licking her thumb she started to rub Jaune's cheek.

"Mom please, I'm fine. I got enough sleep, ate a good lunch and just did my stretching. As for how ready I am, well there's only one way to figure that out." Jaune said as he looked up at a set of doors that lead to the training area where he was to fight Rolf.

"Jaune, look at me." His mother said in a voice that gave no room for compromise, so he looked at her. She reached out and placed her hands on Jaune's cheeks focusing him on her gaze.

"No matter what happens out there, I want you to understand that your sisters and I are proud of you. You're a wonderful person Jaune who brings light to all those that are around you. Your friends can attest to that more so than I in fact. So remember that whatever comes that you'll always be true to yourself because in the end the only person that can truly judge you is yourself." Arabella spoke softly before drawing him into a hug which he gladly returned.

"Alright honey, I'm going to go now. I'll be up in the observation room. Good luck and remember we love you." Arabella said as she let go and turned to head out the door but stopped.

"By the way, you should visit him after this is over." Jaune was puzzled first but it hit him hard as to who she was referring. The door closed with a soft click and he was once more left alone to think. However he didn't really know what to think at the moment.

Looking at a nearby mirror he looked over himself again. He only wore boots and training shorts for today, he didn't know why but Cressida had informed him that was what he was supposed to wear.

Going over his body he could see that his body had continued to shape up to an exquisite form of athleticism. A solidly built body with little body fat left remaining on it; there were some people out there that worked for years to get the body and strength he had.

However there was one noticeable flaw that he could see. In the center of his chest, the scar from the shard that had impaled him at Beacon Tower was still very visible. Despite all this time after waking up it still had not disappeared.

Maybe since he received the wounded after his aura failed completely it was unable to properly heal it. He wasn't sure and he hadn't remembered to ask about it with someone who was a lot smarter than him about it.

He took a deep breath and held it for several seconds before slowly exhaling. There was a knock and a door opened. Jaune turned to the sound and saw Cressida at the door in her uniform.

"It's time." Jaune took another deep breath before exhaling then nodded. Following her he made it back out into the training room. All the equipment had been squared away and numerous flood lights were pointed at the center sparring ring.

Standing in the ring was Rolf, he didn't wear his armor and a part of Jaune wished he kind of did. Rolf had a body similar to what his father had but albeit it was smaller in size but no less intimidating. He wore a simple pair of black shorts and boots.

Black inked tattoos covered the warrior's arms. His chest surprisingly enough was like someone had glued a brown furry rug to it. Had Jaune not also been able to see the numerous scars crisscrossing the old warrior's body he would have felt a little better.

"Are you ready Jaune Arc?" Rolf's voice boomed over the arena. Jaune closed his eyes steeling himself as best he could.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Rolf shook his head disapprovingly.

"There's always room for improvement, never let your self-doubt limit what you can do. If it controls you on the battlefield, you might as well fall on your own sword and spare us the tale of your defeat." Jaune wasn't sure what to say so he just kept quiet, Rolf pointed to his left.

"Pick whatever weapon you feel most comfortable with, when you're ready we'll start." Jaune turned and saw a table with weapons on it. Walking over he could see square and round shields. There were arming swords, one handed longswords, war axes, war hammers, and a claymore.

Jaune picked up on of the arming swords, they were well balanced swords but it didn't feel right in his hands. Setting it down he inspected the other weapons, he ended up being torn between taking the two handed longsword or Claymore.

He finally picked up a two handed longsword. The shining blade was forty inches in length while the total length was forty eight inches, including a black hilt and cross guard.

It wasn't as long as the claymore nor did it have the weight but it was still a very effective weapon designed for thrust and slashing. It was also something that he was familiar with in knowing how to use.

Turning around Jaune headed back into the sparring circle where Rolf stood. However it was at that point that he realized that Rolf had no weapon, the older warrior must have seen the question on Jaune's face.

"I decided that it wouldn't be fair if I used a weapon so I decided that I will use only my hands." Jaune frowned as he placed the blade tip down into the floor.

"Be that as it may it doesn't feel right to fight you with a weapon while you don't." Rolf just chuckled as he shook his head a little before looking at Cressida.

"You may begin." He said simply, Cressida stepped forward.

"The rules of the combat tests are as follows; if at any point in time that I feel that the match is leading to dangerous territory for either side the match will automatically end in a loss for Jaune Arc. The weapons used in this test are also not training weapons but real ones capable of dealing death and other injuries. Lastly, do everything you must to win." Jaune ignored that last part as he replayed what Cressida had said in the middle. Jaune looked down at the sword in his hands. This could kill Rolf if he wasn't careful, as he looked up; in an almost slow motion he could see Rolf sailing at him with his fist aimed at him.

Jaune couldn't even lift his sword up as Rolf smashed his fist against Jaune's chest, sending him hurtling to the floor a dozen feet back. Jaune landed with a thump on the hard floor gasping for air, looking at Rolf he could see the older warrior stalking towards him like an aged wolf after its prey.

Jaune rolled to his left and scrambled to his feet, gripping the sword with two hands he faced Rolf. A cold sweat was already beading his body as he sized up the man. He watched for the barest hints of his muscles tensing before he attacked.

Jaune dropped into his stance, whipping the sword around in an overhead strike that struck Rolf's fist head on. There was a crack of metal on flesh, vibrations travelled down Jaunes arms as the sword and fist cancelled each other out.

"Is that all you have boy?!" Rolf shouted with surprising glee as he struck out at Jaune with a one, two combo with both of his fists. Jaune smashed the flat of his sword upwards, diverting one fist but was unable to bring his sword hilt down to block the second one.

Rolf's fist hammered into Jaune's face, his vision exploded in a flare of white and pain. After a brief second, Jaune saw the lights beaming down at him. Without thinking he rolled to the side and stood up, he could feel a throbbing pain in his left cheek from the strike.

"If you don't take this serious, you're going to fail." Rolf said, his facing becoming as impassive as stone. Jaune gritted his teeth as he readied his blade. He ducked under a wide right hook only to have Rolf grab him by the forehead, lifting him up off the ground as Jaune struggled to pry Rolf's hand off him.

"The enemy will not give you a second chance in a fight; fight me as you would anyone else. If you don't well then I'll show you what happens to those that hold back on the battlefield." Jaune barely registered the words as Rolf raised him higher before slamming him onto the ground.

Jaune gasped as the wind was knocked out of his lungs, looking up he could see Rolf raising a fist to strike down. Jaune rolled to the side as Rolf struck where his head was; Jaune was on his knees and looked to see the spider cracks around Rolf's fist.

Jaune stood up but as Rolf's fist closed in at a startling speed, Jaune reacted on wholly on his instincts. Ducking below the strike, he jumped to the left, holding the sword over his shoulder he quickly brought it up and forward.

Turning around with the longsword gripped in both hands, Jaune hadn't realized what he had done till he looked at the blade. Running down the edge of the blade was something red. Looking up at the tip, he could see more of it on the blade.

Jaune looked at Rolf who was inspecting his arm; a thin line of red about seven inches long ran diagonally across it. A few drops of blood were already splattered on the floor at his feet, but Rolf paid no mind to it.

"Well, I wanna say you've finally got your head in the right place but it looked like you did this on accident." Rolf said casually before starting to wipe away at the cut. Jaune watched in amazement as the thin cut disappeared slowly as Rolf's hand passed over it again and again.

Jaune felt his hands get sweaty as he stood there watching Rolf who was acting as if getting cut by a sword was like accidentally getting scratched by a tree branch.

"Lad if you don't lighten up you're gonna have a heart attack." Rolf said as he placed his hands on his hips.

"How can you say that?! I just fucking cut you Rolf." Jaune snapped back but the older warrior just snorted in derision.

"How else would you win if you weren't trying to strike true at your foe?" Rolf asked but Jaune shook his head.

"You're not my enemy Rolf."

"Yes, yes, I know but you need to start getting this into your mind about that this is how you face those you may see in the future." Jaune was a little more confused by this.

"What do you mean?" Rolf gave a sad smile.

"You need to know what it's like to face people, especially people like me." With that the old warrior lunged forward, Jaune rolled forward but was halted when a pair of legs closed around his chest. Looking down for a brief second he realized it was actually Rolf's arms, Rolf picked him up and brought him close to his own body.

"If you don't use that sword like it's meant to be used, you'll lose this test Jaune. If you lose this test, you'll no longer be allowed to continue this path you've set yourself on. You're friends, who are watching if I might add, will be sent away and you'll no longer be allowed to see them until we deem you ready. Which can be years from now and since they're trying to be Huntsmen and Huntresses their life span can be cut short at any time. They'll die in the Outlands without you knowing." Everything seemed to slow down for Jaune as he thought about what Rolf said. If he failed this test, then his friends would be essentially kicked out of Arcadia and he wouldn't be allowed to leave? A flash of Pyrrha appeared in his mind, he couldn't allow that to happen. Steeling himself, he raised the sword up and set it flat on his shoulder be thrusting it hard back.

"HA! That's what I want to see!" Rolf barked out a laugh as he dropped Jaune to his feet. He turned around to see a scratch on Rolf's shoulder. Jaune gritted his teeth as he gripped the longsword in his hands and held it ready.

Above them in the observation a group of people watched as Jaune started to get a little more serious in his fight with Rolf.

Pyrrha turned around to see a number of people watching aside from her, Nora, Ren, Anna, and Arabella. There was an old man in what looked to be an Army uniform, though there was a ridiculous amount of ribbons and medals on it.

Next to him was a much younger woman who could be in her late twenties if Pyrrha were to see her from a distance. She also wore a uniform of some type with a large amount of ribbons and medals on her chest.

Though that thought was shaken up since Pyrrha could see stress lines around her eyes that made her look far more mature.

There was also a very bland looking man in the corner who appeared to be bored as he watched the fight but Pyrrha could see the razor sharp focus he had on Jaune. Pyrrha couldn't lie, it was kind of creepy.

There was also a Faunus Sentinel there aside from Anna; she had grey hair with grey rabbit ears that twitched every so often. For some reason Pyrrha couldn't help but remember about the ever so shy Velvet Scarlatina.

"Psssst, Pyrrha." Nora whispered to her and she turned to her friend.

"What's with all these old people?" Nora said as she jerked her thumb over her shoulder but Pyrrha shrugged.

"I don't know Nora, and it's not nice to talk about them like they're not here." Pyrrha said.

"They're important figures of Government." Anna said from the other side of Ren. Nora and Pyrrha looked towards the albino Sentinel but Arabella spoke up from behind them.

"The people you see in here are members of the Arcadian Council." Pyrrha looked around in surprised; these people were the Council members of Arcadia. In the Four Kingdoms that would have made them the most powerful people in the Kingdom.

"Why are they all here?" Ren asked and Arabella smiled.

"Well they're here to see if Jaune passes his first test."

"So he has to beat Rolf?" Nora asked but Arabella shook her head.

"Not necessarily." Ren frowned.

"What do you mean?" Arabella looked as if she was mulling over his question for a few seconds.

"You'll see." The three teens exchanged looks before looking back down at Jaune and Rolf.

Jaune ducked another right hook, twisting his wrist counter clockwise as he swung the sword upwards but Rolf stepped out of the blades way. He twisted his wrist clockwise as he cleaved downward; aiming at Rolf's left leg.

However the older warrior simply jumped up avoiding the blade and leaned forward as he lashed out with a quick jab. Jaune twisted his blade, using the flat end to meet Rolf's hand; Jaune grimaced was pushed back from the force of Rolf. The much heavier and stronger man easily sending Jaune off balanced from the hit.

Recovering quickly Jaune decided to press the advantage. Jaune thrust the sword forward aiming past Rolf's right shoulder then quickly pressed then and slid the blade back.

Or well at least he would have done that if Rolf hadn't simply smacked Jaune's hands up then slammed his right fist into Jaune's solar plexus.

Jaune gasped in excruciating pain as he fell the floor, coughing heavily he rolled to his knees but it seemed Rolf was getting impatient as he struck Jaune in the back between his shoulder blades.

Jaune could see the white light of his aura flaring from this hit. There was a running shuffle and Jaune looked up to see Rolf's shin coming at him. His vision exploded again in a world of white and pain as he rolled back from the hit.

Jaune inadvertently pressed his hands to his face from the pain. After a moment he pulled his hands away. Jaune opened his eyes and saw that white cracks on his hands running up the length of his arm. His heart a cold weight settled in his stomach as he remembered the last time that happened.

"Get up lad as long as you've got breath in your lungs and the enemy stands before you, you will fight." Rolf said as Jaune watched his aura flake away.

Each piece of light that broke off his body dissolved in the air. Soon enough it was all gone, he climbed to his feet. His body ached as he stood up straight and looked at Rolf.

He looked at his feet and picked up the longsword, gripping it with both hands he looked Rolf in the eyes. The older warrior's expression was enigmatic as he cracked his knuckles.

"Why do you fight Jaune Arc?" Rolf asked as he closed the distance within seconds. Jaune swung the sword vertically warding off Rolf's hands before jumping back to avoid Rolf's left leg. However Rolf kept pressing him, Jaune barely escaping a palm strike by intercepting it with the flat of his blade.

Jaune feigned a jump to the side by stepping wide with right foot then crouching low, Jaune thrust the blade forward and nearly cut the side of Rolf's leg. However the older warrior pivoted, the blade missing his legs by a few inches.

Rolf punched down smacking the flat of the blade sending it tip first into the ground. Before raising his right leg then stopping on the rain guard of the longsword. Jaune was forced to let go sword as Rolf smacked Jaune in the chest with his left palm.

Jaune stumbled back swordless before falling onto his back. Jaune just laid there for few moments, a million thoughts racing through his mind.

If he couldn't beat Rolf, he'll lose and if he lost he'll lose his friends. Most importantly he'll lose Pyrrha, he couldn't handle that. He thought back to the moment when she put him in the locker and sent him away, a familiar rage and pain filled his heart.

He rolled to his hands and knees then slowly stood up. Behind him Rolf watched his every movement. The lad was much stronger, faster and even skilled than before however he was wasting it at the moment. He didn't have a clear goal in mind, that clouded mind was his undoing.

"Why do you fight Jaune Arc?" Rolf called out but he didn't answer as he turned around. A dark bruise forming on his chest where Rolf had hit him, above it the scar from his injury seemed to be enhanced by it.

"I fight because I have to." Jaune said simply but Rolf clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"That's not why you fight boy that just says you do it against your will but we both know that there are options for many that do not wish to fight. You didn't have to sneak your way into Beacon or learn to fight with that girl of yours if you didn't want to." Rolf said but Jaune stayed silent in response.

"So tell me honestly, why do you fight?" Jaune didn't say anything at first but finally spoke up.

"To honor my families legacy, to be the hero that everyone expects us to be." Rolf barked out in laughter.

"That's a load of horse shite and you know it. You think stealing Crocea Mors and then lying your way into a school thus taking the place of someone who would have earned their way into that spot would honor your ancestors? You know that's false so don't insult me with such a blatant lie."

"Here's another question, why do you still fight?" Jaune blinked at that before looking up at the observation room.

"What?" Rolf pointed at him.

"Why do you still fight me?" Jaune took a moment to think.

"I'm fighting for myself." Rolf grinned.

"Why do you fight for yourself?"

"I fight to protect those I love and the values I hold dear." Rolf's grin turned to a smile.

"What do you fear lad?" Jaune blinked as he looked up at the observation room.

"Losing my family, my friends…her." Jaune whispered that last part but Rolf was clearly able to hear it as his smile turned wolfish.

"Ah yes of course but what about those values you mentioned, who did you learn your values from?" Rolf asked.

"My family."

"What did they always teach or at least try to teach since it seems you've got a thick skull lad." Jaune started remembering random lessons that his father and mother always told him when he was a boy.

"To help those in need even if I get hurt while doing so, never close my mind to new possibilities, listen first then talk, think before I act, treasure my loved ones no matter what, and strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." Rolf nodded then pointed to the sword at his feet.

"Now tell me lad, if you met a warrior who was like me that was going to hurt that lass of yours, what would you do?"

"I'd protect her." Jaune said instantly.

"Would you do it knowing that you'll die doing so?" Jaune nodded.

"Yes."

"Would you fight an enemy even if you have no chance of beating them?" Jaune nodded.

"If fighting means doing the right thing to give time for someone to escape and live then I'll trade my life knowing that what I did was right." Rolf's face turned serious.

"Do you think you can beat me?" Jaune shook his head.

"No." Rolf nodded before turning to Cressida.

"The match is now over, the winner is Rolf." Jaune felt ice forming in his stomach and looked down. He failed; he didn't know what to do to stop what was going to happen. Someone placed their hand on his shoulder, it was a rather large hand, and he looked up to see Rolf standing in front of him.

"You did good lad." Jaune shook his head.

"I failed the test." He whispered hoarsely.

"No Jaune, you passed." Jaune didn't look up; instead he stared at his feet confused about what he heard. He finally looked up to see Rolf staring down at him.

"What?" Rolf nodded slowly.

"You pass Jaune; the purpose was never really to test your combat ability but to evaluate your mind." Jaune shook his head again confused about what he was saying.

"What do you mean?" Rolf chuckled.

"Jaune, none of us truly expected you to beat me in a fight. Though had it happened it wouldn't be the true deciding factor if you passed or not. No what I was looking for was how you handled the target in front of you. At first you faltered in your refusal to actually use your blade against me since I had no weapon but once I told you that lie about what would happen to your friends then you became more serious about it. Your mind became clear on what it is you wanted to do despite who you were fighting. Even then you were very conscious about what the actual outcome would be but did it nonetheless without faltering you did what you could." Jaune looked at Rolf confused as he nodded slowly.

"So essentially, you wanted to see what I would do once I had a goal in mind and whether or not I'll act despite common sense dictating that it would be better to run or surrender when I had something to fight for?" Rolf nodded.

"Pretty much." Jaune pressed the palm of his hands against his eyes in agitation.

"That's kind of stupid." He said when he looked back at Rolf who just grinned.

"Well your opinion on the matter is noted lad but no one cares either way." Jaune just sighed as he slowly let himself lay down on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Rolf asked as Jaune closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Resting, you still kicked the shit out of me." Rolf laughed.

"Yea I did do that didn't I?" He continued to laugh and Jaune just glared at him as he turned to walk away. Jaune finally sat up to look around the room; Cressida walked over to him and kneeled down.

"You need some help getting to the locker room?" She asked but Jaune shook his head and slowly stood up.

"I'm good, though I don't think I'll be doing much tomorrow." Jaune said as he slowly made his way over to the door leading to the locker room.

"No, I suppose not." Cressida said from behind him, he could hear the mirth in her voice.

"Fearless Leader!" A very familiar voice called out and the next thing Jaune knew was a familiar weight on his back.

"You got your butt kicked Jaune." Nora said as she rode on his back, Jaune didn't say anything as he struggled to stay upright. A familiar set of arms took Jaune's left arm and he turned to see Pyrrha standing next to him.

"Nora please get off Jaune, I don't think he can carry you at the moment." Ren said from behind Jaune.

"Awwww." Nora said as she climbed off Jaune much to his relief.

"Thanks Ren." Jaune said as the locker room door opened.

"It's not a problem since you got beat up pretty badly." Jaune sighed.

"You guys aren't going to let this go, are you?" The accompanying laughter, most noticeable from Nora was evident that it wasn't going away any time soon.

"But in all seriousness, Rolf won the fight but you passed the test?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune opened the locker where his clothes were situated.

"Yea, it wasn't about my fighting skill, it was about how or why I fight." Jaune said as he disappeared behind one of the walls to change. Pyrrha could feel her cheeks heat up at the thought he was undressing on the other side of the wall from her.

"So now that they tested that, what now?" Ren asked.

"Well not I've got some free time till I get sent to the mission my mom and the Council set out for me." Pyrrha almost forgot about that, looking at Ren and Nora it seemed they did as well.

"So what's going to happen at this Irkalla place?" Nora asked as Jaune came out from behind the wall, he now wore a loose white shirt, jeans and black shoes.

"I'm not really sure; I'm supposed to be a part of a Military operation there. I don't really know much besides that." Pyrrha nodded before standing up and moving besides Jaune who was still moving slowly. She would have helped him stand but he waved her off as he stretched his back, multiple cracks could be heard as he leaned back.

"I do know that Irkalla is a dangerous place, fighting is constant over there along with the weather ranging from a bad to worse due to the snow. So it's going to be tough, probably even more tough than today." Pyrrha frowned as she looked at Ren and Nora who nodded. Pyrrha looked back at Jaune who was staring ahead.

"Well I'm sure we'll have your backs this time." Pyrrha said drawing a smile from Jaune.

"I wouldn't mind that, it's been a while since the team has had something to do together."

"Oh! We can finally go out into the city then if you're free for now." Nora said and Ren nodded with her.

"Indeed, I wouldn't mind seeing what it's like here for the average person." Jaune grinned then looked at Pyrrha.

"I think I can show you guys a few interesting places before we head out to the mission." Someone cleared their throat from nearby and the four of them turned to see Arabella standing by a door.

"Oh hey mom, how long have you been standing there?" Jaune asked and she stepped forward flashing a quick smile before it turned serious again.

"Let me just say I'm proud of you Jaune for passing the first test and remember to rest up. Rolf didn't go as hard as I expected him to be but he still packs a powerful punch." Jaune grimaced.

"Wait he was holding back on me!?"

"As for the mission to Irkalla…well Jaune, this is also something you've got to do by yourself. So you three won't be allowed to go with him." She said as she addressed the last part mainly to Pyrrha and the others.

"Wait why?" Pyrrha asked, stepping forward but Arabella held her hand out to stop her.

"It's to see Jaune's ability to function and lead in a military situation."

"But we're his team, we should be going then." Pyrrha argued but Arabella shook her head.

"You're a team of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Jaune isn't going to Irkalla as a Huntsman but as an Arc of Arcadia." Pyrrha looked like she was gonna argue more but Jaune raised his hand stopping her.

"It's fine Pyrrha." Jaune looked at his mother.

"I assume you'll tell me the details later?" She nodded.

"There are still some things I need to get finished, so I'll find you when it's time to continue talking about this. Until then relax and have fun Jaune, you deserve it." Arabella said with a smile, one hand reaching out cupping his right cheek. Jaune smiled as he patted her hand and she reached out to hug him which he returned.

Soon enough she broke apart and headed out the door she came from. Jaune turned to his friends and smiled, gesturing for them to follow.

"Let's go." He said as he led them out the locker room.

* * *

 **Welp wasn't this an action packed Chapter of sorts huh?**

 **Will Pyrrha ever get over what happened at Beacon?**

 **Will Jaune ever get over that ass kicking?**

 **How tired is Saul going to be?**

 **Anyways, there's a few things I think I need to address. For instance, what is the actual population that is on Remnant in my story at least. Well the answer is about a few hundred million people. Now some of you may think "That's ridiculous" and maybe it is but I remember coming across a very interesting post on the RWBY Wiki page called Determination of the Size of Vale via Cartographic Analysis by Shadow at Morning who gives a thorough explanation at the size of Vale which I then applied to Vacuo, Atlas and Mistral then tweaked it that it makes a little more sense in context of my story.**

 **Next, someone messaged me how much research do I actually do with my stories and I think it's safe to say that I do as much as I can.**

 **Hence why it takes me so long to actually get the chapters out.**

 **For instance just in this chapter, I had to look through Artillery terms, then watched "Sword and Shield Fighting with Roland Warzecha," looked through Lexicanum for relevant information on Astartes. Double checked to make sure I remembered the organization of the Legions and the terminology for them. Hammered out some information on Military Logistics and how it interacts with the Arcadian army.**

 **That was all just in this one relatively light chapter, I take three times the amount of time to double check and find realistic terms and items for heavier chapters or for my "A Dance of Death" story.**

 **Oh also, I've been thinking about moving this back to the General RWBY section, mainly because it feels like the story doesn't get as much traffic in the cross over section as it would in the general section. Or maybe this is just my what my fogged up mind is thinking at 2 in the morning, I don't know at this point, I wouldn't mind hearing what ya'll have to say about this.**

* * *

 ***Update***

 **Alright so I've been thinking about it for a long time now but I might end this story.**

 **Now I still want to have a story with Warhammer 40k mixed in with it but I feel like I could or should have done a better job at this. Now admittedly this is my first story and I'm not under the delusion that I'm some top notch writer.**

 **However I'm still on the fence about it.**

 **I always go back to read the comments and messages that people send me or posted on the chapters. In a sense they're right from the very beginning. My story falls flat in those chapters with the exception of the first chapter and Gellar there was nothing interesting which according to the traffic it's true. The people the story brings fall off before I grew ballsy and made Chapter 8 about Leflore.**

 **Don't even get me started on the organization of the story.**

 **Anyways I'm going to put a poll up about the Fate of this story. When the polling is done I'll act accordingly.**

 **Besides that feel free to leave a comment about what you think of this or PM me.**

* * *

 ***Final Update***

 **Alright the poll is closed and it seems the majority of those who voted desired for me to start over. So that's what I'm going to do, for the now the name will also stay the same. As for the story I'm not going to divulge what I'm thinking of doing yet.**

 **With that being said I actually would like to know what it is that actually brought you to this story then what you liked and didn't like overall. I got this idea from reading Lionfire42's review that he left when I first made this update on the fate of the story. I want to see what it was that made the people (you) want to continue reading my story and what drove them away as well.**

 **Obviously** **no one is obligated to speak and I'll continue with what I'm doing at the moment.**

 **Aside from that don't expect to see this story back on it's feet for a while.**

 **Anyways ya'll know what to do...**


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